Discourses on various subjects

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Dnurluml'v CnlU-rtton
I'lTin-ntmi hi tS7S.

^ereM^^ \:r;:?;->

DISCOURSES

ON

VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

Bv JEREMY TAYLOR, D. D.

tHAfLAIN IN ORDINARY TO KING CHARLES THE FIRST, A^T) LATP,
LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR.

m THREE VOLUMES.

V0LU3IE II.

BOSTON :

?UBLISHED nv WELLS AND LILLY,

SOLD BY A. T. GOODRICH, AND VAN WINKLE AND WILET, NEW-TOr<K — iNB
M. CAREY, PHILADELPHIA.

1816.

BIGHT HONOURABLE AND TRULY NOBLE

RICHARD, LORD VAUGHAN,

EARL OF CARBERY, &c.

MY LORD,

I NOW present to your Lordship a copy of those
sermons, the pubHcatlon of which was first designed
by the appetites of that hunger and thirst of righteous-
ness which made your dear lady (that rare soul) so
dear to God, and that he was pleased speedily to
satisfy her, by carrying her from our shallow and
impure cisterns, to drink out of the fountains of our
Saviour. My Lord, I shall but prick your tender
eye, If I shall remind your Lordship how diligent a
hearer, how careful a recorder, how prudent an ob-
server, how sedulous a practiser of holy discourses
she was ; and that therefore it was, that what did
slide through her ear, she was desirous to place be-
fore her eye, that by those windows they might enter
in, and dwell in her heart : but because by this truth
I shall do advantage to the following discourses, give
me leave, my Lord, to fancy that this book is de-
rived upon your Lordship almost in the nature of a
legacy from her, whose every thing was dearer to
your Lordship than your own eyes ; and that what

IV THE EPISTLE DEDICATOR!'.

she was pleased to believe apt to minister to her de-
votions, and the religions of her pious and discerning
poul, may also be allowed a place in your closet, and
a portion of your retirement, and a lodging in your
thoughts, that they may encourage and instruct your
practice, and promote that interest which is, and
ought to be, dearer to you than all those blessings and
separations with which God hath remarked your fa-
mily and person-.

My Lord, I confess the publication of these ser-
mons can so little serve the ends of my reputation,
that I am therefore pleased the rather to do it, because
1 cannot at all be tempted, in so doing, to minister to
any thing of vanity. Sermons may please when
they first strike the ear, and yet appear flat and ig-
norant when they are offered to the eye, and to an
iindcrstandinor that can consider at leisure. I re-
member that a young genileman of Athens^ being to
answer for his life, hired an orator to make his de-
fence, and it pleased him well at his first reading, but
^vhen the young man by often reading it, that he
might recite it publickly by heart, began to grow
weary and displeased with it, the orator bade him con-
hidcr that the judges and the people were to hear it but
once, and then it was likely, they, at that first instant,
might be as well pleased as he. This hath often
represented to my mind the condition and fortune of
sermons, and that I now part with the advantage
they had in their delivery; but I have sufficiently
answered myself in that, and am at rest perfectly in
iny thoughts as to that particular, if 1 can in any de-i

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORlf.

gree serve the interest of souls, and (which is next to
that) obey the piety, and record the memory of that
dear saint, whose name and whose soul is blessed :
for in both these ministiies I doubt not but your
Lordship will be pleased, and account as if I had done
also some service to yourself : your religion makes
me sure of the first, and your piety puts the latter
past my fears. However, I suppose, in the whole
account of this affair, this publication may be esteem-
ed but like preaching to a numerous auditory; which
if I had done, it would have been called either duty
or charity, and therefore will not now so readily be
censured for vanity, if I make use of all the ways I
can to minister to the good of souls. But because
my intentions are fair in themselves, and I hope are
acceptable to God, and will be fairly expounded by
your Lordship, (whom for so great reason I so much
value) I shall not trouble you or the world with an
apology for this so free publishing my weaknesses :
I can better secure my reputation, by telling men
how they ought to entertain sermons ; for if they
that read or hear do their duty aright, the preacher
shall soon be secured of his fame, and untouched by
censure.

]. For it were well if men would not inquire
after the learning of the sermon, or its delicious-
ness to the ear or fancy, but observe its useful-
ness ; not what concerns the preacher, but what
concerns themselves ; not what may take a vain re-
flection upon him, but what may substantiallv serve
their own needs; that the attending to his discourses

TI THE EPISTLE DEDICATOY.

may not be spent in vain talk concerning him or his
dispai-agements, but may be used as a duty and a
part of religion, to minister to edification and instruc-
tion. When St. John reckoned the principles of evil
actions, he told but of three, the lust of the jiesh^ the
lust of the eijcs^ and the pride of life. But there was
then also in the world (and now it is grown into age,
and strength, and faction) another lust, the lust of the
car, and a fifth also, the lust of the tongue. Some peo-
ple have an insatiable appetite in hearing ; and hear
only that they may hear, and talk, and make a party ;
they entpr into their neighbour's house to kindle
their candle, and espying there a glaring fire, sit down
upon the hearth, and warm themselves all day, and
forget their errand ; and in the mean time their own
fires are not lisfhted, nor their families instructed or
provided for, nor any need served, but a lazy pleasure,
which is useless and impudent. Hearing or reading
sermons, is, or ought to be, in order to practice ; for
so God intended it, that faith should come by hearing.,
and that charity should come hy faith., and by both
together we may be saved. For a man's ears (as
Plutarch calls them) are inrtutmn ansae, by them we
are to hold and apprehend virtue ; and unless we use
them as men do vessels of dishonour, filling them with
things fit to be thrown away, with any thing that is not
necessary, we are by them more nearly brought to God
than by all the senses beside. For although things
placed before the eye aftoct the mind more readily
than the things we usually hear; yet the reason of
that is, because wc licar carelessly, and we hear

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. V»

variety : the same species dwells upon the eye, and
represents the same object in union and single lepre-
sentment ; but the objects of the ear are broken into
fragments of periods, and words, and syllables, and
must be attended with a careful understanding : and
because everv thing: diverts the sound, aud every
thing calls oil' the understanding, and the spirit of a
man is truantly and trifling; therefore it is, that what
men hear docs so little aflcct them, and so weakly
work toward the purposes of virtue ; and yet nothing
does so affect the mind of man as those voices to
which we cannot choose but attend; and thunder and
all loud voices (rom heaven rend the most stony heart,
and make the most obstinate pay to God the homage
of tremblins: and fear; and the still voice of God
usually takes the tribute of love, and choice, and obe-
dience. Now since hearing is so effective an instru-
ment of conveying impresses and images of things, and
exciting purposes, and fixing resolutions, (unless we
hear weakly and imperfectly;) it will be of the great-
er concernment that we be curious to hear, in order
to such purposes which are perfective of the soul and
of the spirit, and not to dwell in fancy and speci>
lation, in pleasures and trilling arrests, which con-
tinue the soul in its infancy and childhood, never let-
tinof it 2:0 forth into the wisdom and virtues of a man.
I have read concerning Dionysius of Sicily, that being
delighted extremely with a minstrel that sung Avell,
and struck his harp dexterously, he promised to give
him a great reward ; and that raised the fancy of the
man, and made him play better. But when the mu-

Vm THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

sick was done, and the man waited for his great
hope, the king dismissed him empty, telling him, that
he should carry away as much of the promised re-
ward as himself did of the musick, and that he had
paid him suflkiently with the pleasure of the promise
for the pleasure of the song: both their ears had been
equally dcliohted, and the profit just none at all. So it
is in many men's hearing sermons : they admire the
preacher, and he pleases their ears, and neither of them
both bear along with them any good ; and the hearer
hath as little good by the sermon, as the preacher by
the air of the people's breath, when they make a
noise, and admire, and undeistand not. And that
also is a second caution I desire all men would take.
2. That they may never trouble the affairs of
preaching and hearing respectively, with admiring
the person of any man. To admire a preacher, is
such a reward of his pains and worth, as if you should
crown a conqueror with a garland of roses, or a
bride with laurel; it is an indecency, it is no part of the
reward which could be intended for him. For thouffh
it be a good natured folly, yet it hath in it much dan-
ger; for by that means the preacher may lead his
hearers captive, and make them servants of a faction,
or of a lust; it makes them so much the less to be
servants of Christ, by how much they call any man
master upon earth ; it weakens the heart and hands of
others, it places themselves in a rank much below
their projier station, changing from hearing the word
of God^ to admiration of the persons and faces of
fnen ; and it being a fault that fails upon the more

THE EPISTM3 DEDICATORY- fit

easy natures and softer understandings, does more
easilj abuse a man. And though such a person may
• have the good fortune to admire a good man and a
■wise ; yet it is an ill disposition, and makes liim hable
to every man's abuse. Stupidum hominem qvavis
oratione percclU., said Heraclilus ; an undiscerning
person is apt to be cozened by every oration. And
besides tliis, that preacher whom some do admire,
others will most certainly envy, and that also is to be
provided against with diligence : and you must not
admire too forwardly, for your oivn sake, lest you
fall into the hands of a worse preacher, and for his
sake, whom, when you admire, you also love, for
others will be apt to envy him.

3. But that must by all men he avoided, for envy
is the worst counsellor in the world, and the worst
hearer of a wise discourse. I pity those men who
live upon flattery and wonder, and while they sit at
the foot of the doctor's chair, stare in his face, and cry
uKpi^a,;, ai /uiyAKou iftAo<ro(p:u- rarely spokcn, admirably done !
They are like callow and unfeathered birds, gaping
perpetually to be fed from another's mouth, and they
never come to the knowledge of the truth ; such a know-
ledge as is effective, and expressed in a prudent and
holy life. But those men that envy the preacher,
besides that they are great enemies of the Holy
Ghost, and are spitefully evil, because God is good to
him, they are also enemies to themselves. He that
envies the honours or the riches of another, envies
for his own sake, and he would fain be rich with that
wealth which sweats in his neighbour's coifers: but

VOL. II. B

5» THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIT*

he that envies him that makes good sermons, envies
himself, and is angry because himself maj receive
the benefit, and be improved^ or delighled, or instructed
by another. He that is apt fondJy to admire any
man's person, must cure himself by considering, that
the preacher is God's minister and servant; that he
speaks God's word, and does it by the divine assist-
ance ; that he hath nothing of his own but sin and im-
perfection ; that he does but his duty, and that
also hardly enough ; that he is highly answerable
for his talent, and stands deeply charged with the
cure of souls ; and therefore that he is to be highly
esteemed foi- the ivork sake^ not for the person : his in-
dustry and his charity is to be beloved, his ability is
to be accounted upon another stock, and for it the
preacher and the hearer are both to give Got/ thanks;
but nothing is due to the man for that, save only that
it is the rather to be employed, because by it we
may be better instructed : but if any other reflection
be made upon his person, it is next to the sin and
danger of Herod and the people, when the fine ora-
tion was made /m«t* Troxm (pavrAina;, With hvge faticy ; the
people were pleased, and Herod was admired, and
God was angry, and an angel was sent to strike him
"with death and with dishonour. But the envy
against a preacher is to be cured by a contrary dis-
course, and we must remember, that he is in the place
of God, and hath received the gift of God, and the
aids of the Holy Ghost ; that by his abilities God is
glorified, and we are instructed, and the interests of
virtue and iioly religion are promoted ; that by this

•TMK EPISTLE DEDICATORT. Xl

means God, who deserves that all souls should serve
him for ever, is likely to have a fairer harvest of
glory and service, and therefore that envy is against
him ; that if we envy because we are not the instru-
ment of this good to others, we must consider that
we desire the praise to ourselves, not to God. Jid~
miration of a man supposes him to be inferiour to the
person so admired, but then he is pleased so to be ;
but envy supposes him as low, and he is displeased
at it : and the envious man is not only less than the
other man's virtue, but also contrary: the former is
a vanity^ but this is a vice ; that wants wisdom, but
this wants wisdom and charity too ; that supposes an
absence of some good, but this is a direct affliction
and calamity.

4. And after all this, if the preacher be not des-
pised, he may proceed cheerfully in doing his duty,
and the hearer may have some advantages by every
sermon. I remember that Homer says, the wooers
of Penelope laughed at Ulysses, because at his return
he called for a loaf, and did not, to show his gal-
lantry, call for swords and spears. Ulysses was so
wise as to call for that he needed, and had it, and
it did him more good than a whole armoury Avouid
in his case. So is the plainest part of an easy and
honest sermon, it is the sincere milk of the word, and
nourishes a man's soul, though represented in its
o~Avn natural simplicity; and there is hardly any ora-
tor but you may find occasion to praise something
of him. When Plato misliked the order and dis-
position of the oration of Lysias, yet he praised (he

Xli THE EPTSTLE OEDICATORT.

good words and the elocution of the man. Euript'
dcs was commended for his fulness, Parmenides for
his composition, Phocylides for his easiness, j9rchi-
lochus for his argument, Sophocles for the iine-
qualness of his stjle: so many men praise their
preacher ; he speaks pertinently, or he contrives
■wittily, or he speaks comely, or the man is pious, or
charitable, or he hatha good text, or he speaks plainly,
or he is not tedious, or, if he be, he is at least indus-
trious, or he is the messenger of God ; and that will
not fail us, nud let us love him for that. And we
know those that love can easily commend any thing,
because they like every thing : and they say, fair
men are like angels, and the black are manly, and
the pale look like honey and the stars, and the
crooknosed are like the sons of kings, and if thej
he flat they are gentle and easy, and if they be
deformed they are liumble, andnot to be despised, be-
cause they have upon them the impresses of divinity,
and they are the sons of God. He that despises his
preacher, is a hearer of arts and learning, not of the
word of God: and though, when the word of God
is set off with. advantages and entertainments of the
better faculties of our humility, it is more useful and
of more effect; yet, when the word of God is spoken
truly, though but read in plain language, it will be-
come the disciple of Jesus to love that man whom
God sends, and the publick order and the laws have
employed, rather than to despise the weakness of
him wlio delivers a mighty word.

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORT. XlJl

Thus it is fit that men should be affected and
employed when they hear and read sermons, com-
ino[ hither not as into a theatre^ where men observe
the gestures or noises of the people, the brow and
eyes of the most busy censureis, and make parlies,
and go aside witii them that dislike every thing, or
else admire not the things, but the persons; but
as to a sacrifice, and as to a school where virtue is
tauirht and exercised, and none come but such as
put themselves under discipline, and intend to
grow wiser and more virtuous, to appease their pas-
sion, from violent to become smooth and even, to
have their faith established, and their hope confirm-
ed, and their charity enlarged. They that are other-
wise affected do not do their duty : but if they be
so minded as they ought, I and all men of my employ-
ment shall be secured against the tongues and faces
of men who are ingeniosi in alieno libra, witty to
abuse and undervalue another man's book. And
yet, besides these spiritual arts already reckoned, I
have one security more : for (unless I deceive my-
self) I intend the glory of God sincerely, and the
service o( Jesus, in this publication; and therefore
seeing / do not seek myself or my own reputation, I
shall not be troubled if they be lost in the voices of
busy people, so that I be accepted of God, and
found of him in the day of the Lord^s visitation.

My Lord, it was your charity and nobleness that
gave me opportunity to do this service (little or
great) unto religion, and whoever shall find any
advantage to their soul by reading the following

Xit THE EPISTLE DEDICATORT.

discourses, if thej know how to bless God, and to
bless all thern that are God's instruments in doing
them benefit, will, I hope, help to procure blessings
to your person and family, and say a holy prayer, and
Dame your Lordship in their litanies, and remember
that, at your own charges, you have digged a well,
and placed cisterns in the highways, that they may
drink and be refreshed, and their souls may bless you.
My Lord, I hope this, even because I very much de-
sire it, and because you exceedingly deserve it, and
above all, because God is good and gracious., and
loves to reward such a charity, and such a religion
as is yours, by which you have employed me in the
service of God, and in the ministries to your family.
My Lord, I am, most heartily, and for very many
dear obligations,

Your Lordship's most obliged,

Most humble, and most
Affectionate Servant,

TAYLOR.

CONTENTS

TO THE SECOND VOLUME.

SERMON I, II. ^'^

Of the Spirit of Grace 1, 19.

Rom. viii. 9, 10.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit
ofGod dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of" Christ,
he is none of iiis. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin; but the spirit is life, because of righteousness.

SERMON III, IV.

The descending and entailed Curse cut off 41, 60.

Exoo. XX. part of the .^th verse.
I the I-ord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the

fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of

them that hate me.
6. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and

keep my commandments.

SERMON V, VI.

The Invalidity of a late or Death-bed Repentance 80, 100.

Jer. xiii. 16.

Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and

before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye

look for light, {or, lest while ye look ibr light) he shall turn it into

the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

SERMON VII, VIII.

The DeceHfulness of the Heart 123, 141.

Jer. xvii. 9.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ;
who can know it ?

SERMON IX,X,XI.

The Faith and Patience of Ihe Saints: or, the Righteous

Cause oppressed 159, 11{J, 203.

1 Pet. iv. 17.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God :

and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey

not the gospel of God ?
18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly

aud the sinner appear ?

CONTENTS.

SERMON XII, XIII. P'«s«^

The Mercy of the Divine Judginenls : or, God's Method in

curing Sinners '224, 244.

Rom. ii. 4.
Despiseth tlioii the rirlic? of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-
sllfl^^i^2;. not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance.

SERMON XIV, XV.
Of Growth in Grace, wilh its proper Instruments and

Signs 263, 279.

2 Pet. iii. 18.
But grow in graee, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON XVI, XVII.

Of Growth in Sin : or, the several States and Degrees
of Sinners, with the Manner how they are to be treat-
ed 300, 319.

JuDE EPisT. ver. 22, 23.

And of some have compassion, making a difference : and others save
wilh fear, pulling them out of the fire.

SERMON XVIII, XIX.

The Foolish Exchange 343, 363.

Mat. xvi. 26.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul ? or, what shall a man gain in exchange for his soul ?

SER.MON XX, XXI, XXII.

The Serpent and the Dove: or, a Discourse of Christian

Prudence 385, 402, 419.

Mat. X. latter part of 16th verse.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

SEKMON XXIII, XXIV.

Of Christian Simplicity 443, 460.

Mat. X. latter part of 16th verse.
And harmless as doves.

SERMON XXV, XXVI, XXVII.

The Miracles of the Divine Mercy 479, 500, 520.

Psal. Ixxxvi. 5.
For thou. Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy
to all them lliut call upon tlice.

SERMON I.

WHIT-SUNDAY.

SPIRIT OF GRACE.

Rom. viii. 9, 10.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the
spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of
Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead,
because of sin ; but the spirit is life, because of righteousness.

This day, in which the church commemorates the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, was the
first beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This
was the first day that the religion was professed : now
the apostles first opened their commission, and read
it to all the people. [The Lord gave his spirit] or
\The Lord gave his ivord^ and great was the company
of the preachers. For so I make bold to render that
prophecy of David. Christ was the word of God,
Ferbum aeternuni; but the Spirit was the Word of
God, Verbum patef actum : Christ was /Ae Word ma-
nifested in the flesh ; the Spirit was the word mani-
fested to fleshy and set in dominion over, and in
hostility against the flesh. The gospel and the spirit
are the same thing ; not in substance ; but the mani-
festation of the spirit is the gospel of Jesus Christ :
and because he was this day manifested, the gospel
was this day first preached, and it became a law to us,
called the law of the spirit of life;* that is, a law
* Rom. viii. 2.
vol.. n. a

2 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Serm. jr.

tauglit US by the Spirit, leading us to life eternal.
But the gospel is called the spirit; 1. Because it con-
tains in it such glorious mysteries which were revealed
by the immediate inspirations of the Spirit, not only
in the matter itself, but also in the manner and powers
to apprehend them. For what power of human under-
standing could have found out the incarnation of a
God ; that two natures [a finite, and an infinite] could
have been concentered into one hypostasis, (or per-
son ;) that a virgin should be a mother ; that dead men
should live again ; that the x.ovi; ctrrtav xu6«v74t. the ashes
of dissolved bones should become bright as the sun,
blessed as the angels, swift in motion as thought, clear
as the purest noon ; that God should so love us, as to
be willing to be reconciled to us, and yet that him-
self must die that he might pardon us ; that God's
most holy Son should give us his body to eat, and his
blood to crown our chalices, and his spirit to sanctify
our souls, to turn our bodies into temperance, ouf
souk into mindsy our minds into spirit, our spirit into
glori^ ; that he who can give us all things, who is lord
of men and angels, and king of all the creatures,
should pray to God for us without intermission; that
he who reigns over all the world should at the day of
judgment give up the kingdom to God the Father, dLnd yet
after this resignation, himself and we with him should
for ever reign the more gloriously ; that we should be
justified by faith in Christ, and that charity should
be a part of faith, and that f^oth should work as acts of
duty, and as acts of relation, that God should crown
the imperfect endeavours of his saints with glory, and
that a human act should be rewarded with an eternal
inheritance ; that the wicked, for the transient plea-
sure of a few minutes, should be tormented with an
absolute eternity of pains ; that the waters of baptism,
■when they are hallowed by the spirit, shall purge the
soul from sin ; and that the spirit of man shall be
nourished with the consecrated and mysterious ele-

Serm. I. of the spirit of gkacb. ^

ments, and that any such nourishment should bring
a man up to heaven: and after all this, that all
Christian people, all that will be saved, must be par-
takers of the Divine nature, of the nature, the iulinite
natureof God, and must dwell in Christ, and Christ
must dwell in them, and thej must be in the Spirit^
and the Spirit must be for ever in them? These are
articles of so mysterious a philosophy, that we could
have inferred them from no premises, discoursed
them upon the stock of no natural or scientiiical prin-
ciples ; nothing but God and God's Spirit could have
taught them to us : and therefore the Gospel is Spiri-
tus patefactus, the manifestation of the Spirit, adaedijica-
tionem* (as the apostle calls it) for edification and
building us up to be a holy temple to the Lord.

2. But when we had been taught all these myste-
rious articles, we could not by any human power
have understood them, unless the Spirit of God had
given us a new light, and created in us a new capa-
city, and made us to be a new creature, of another
definition. Jlninialis homo, 4wx"'«. that is, as St. Jude
expounds the word, srvw^* <«« *x,m. The animal, or the
natural man^ the man that hath not the Spirit, cannot
discern the things of God, for they are spiritually dis-
cerned ;'\ that is, not to be understood but by the light
proceeding from the Sun of righteousness, and by
that eye whose bu*d is the holy dove, whose candle
is the gospel.

Scio incapacem te sacramenti, impie.
Nod posse coecis mentibus mysteriuiia
Haurire uostruin : nil diurnum nox capit.f:

* 1 Cor. xii. 7. f 1 Cor. ii. 14.

\ Prudent.
Sinner ! I know, thy bosom never glow'd
With heavenly contemplation's hallowed fires,
Nor felt the Eucharist's mysterious rite ;
SooDer shall beams of day illuaiiDe night.

4 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Serm. I.

He that shall discourse Euclid'^s Elements to a
swine, or preach (as venerable Bedels story reports
of him) to a rock, or talk raetaphysicks to a boar,
will as much prevail upon his assembly, as St. Peter
and St. Paul could do upon uncircumcised hearts and
ears^ upon the indisposed Greeks^ and prejudicate
Jews. An ox will relish the tender flesh of kids
with as much gust and appetite, as an unspiritual
and unsanctified man will do the discourses of an-
gels or of an apostle, if he should come to preach
the secrets of the gospel. And we find it true by
a sad experience. How many times doth God speak
to us by his servants the prophets, by his Son,
by his apostles, by Sermons, by spiritual books,
by thousands of homilies, and arts of counsel and
insinuation ; and we sit as unconcerned as the pil-
lars of a church, and hear the sermons as the Athe-
nians did a story, or as we read a gazette } And if
ever it come to pass that we tremble, as Felix did,
when we hear a sad story of death, of righteousness
and judgment to come., then we put it off to another
time, or we forget it, and think we had nothing to do
but to give the good man a hearing; and, as Jlnachar-
sis said of the Greeks, they used money for nothing
but to cast account withal; so, our hearers make use
of sermons and discourses evangelical, but to fill up
void spaces of their time, to help to tell an hour with,
or pass it without tediousness. The reason of this is a
sad condemnation to such persons ; they have not yet
entertained the Spirit of God, they are in darkness :
they were washed in water, but never baptized with
the Spirit ; for these things are spiritually discerned.
They would think the preacher rude, if he should say
they are not Christians, they are not within the cove-
nant of the gospel : but it is certain that the spirit of
manifestation is not yet upon them ; and that is the
first effect of the Spirit, whereby we can be called
Bons of God, or relatives of Christ. If we do not ap-

Serm. I. of the spirit of gr\ce. .1

prehend and greedily suck in the precepts of this
holy discipline as aptly as merchants do discourse of
gain, or farmers of fair harvests, we have notiiing
but the name of Christians ; but we are no mure
such really than mandrakes are men, or spunges are
living creatures.

3. The gospel is called spirit, because it consists of
spiritual promises and spiritual precepts, and makes
all men that embrace it truly to be spiritual men ; and
therefore St. Paul adds an epithet beyond this, call-
ing it a quickening spirit * that is, it puts life into
spirits which the law could not. The law bound
us to punishment, but did not help us to obedience,
because it gave not the promise of eternal life to its
disciples. The spirit, that is, the gospel, only does
this : and this alone is it which comforts afflicted minds,
which puts activeness into wearied spirit, which in-
flames our cold desires, and does ava^a^yge/v blow vp
sparks into live coals, and coals up to flames, and
flames into perpetual burnings. And it is impossible
that any man who believes and considers the great,
the inlinite, the unspeakable, the unimaginable, and
never-ceasing joys that are prepared for all the sons
and daughters of the gospel, should not desire them;
and unless he be a fool, he cannot but use means to
obtain them, effective, hearty pursuances. For it is
not directly in the nature of a man to neglect so great
a good ; there must be something in his manners, some
obliquity in his will, or madness in his intellectuals,
or incapacity in his naturals, that must make him sleep
such a reward away, or change it for the pleasure of
a drunken fever, or the vanity of a mistress, or the
rage of a passion, or the unreasonableness of any
sin. However, this promise is the life of all our ac-
tions, and the Spirit that first taught it is the life of
our souls.

4. But beyond this, is the reason which is the con-
summation of ail the faithful. The gospel is called

* 2 Cor.

6 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Serm. !•

the spirit, because bj and in the gospel God hath
given to us not only the spirit of manifestotion, that
IS, of instruction and of catechism, of faith and (onfi-
dent assent ; hut the spirit of conjirmation or obsigna-
tion to all them that believe and obey the gospel of
Christ : that is, the power of God is come upon our
hearts, by which in an admirable manner we are made
sure of a glorious inheritance ; made sure (I say) in
the nature of the thing ; and our own persuasions
also are confirmed with an excellent, a comfortable, a
discerning and a reasonable hope : in the strength of
which, and by whose aid, as we do not doubt of the
performance of the promise, so we vigorously pur-
sue all the parts of the condition, and are enabled to
work all the work of God, so as not to be affrighted
with fear, or seduced by vanity, or oppressed by lust,
or drawn off by evil example, or abused by riches, or
imprisoned by ambition and secular designs. This
the spirit of God does work in all his servants ; and
is called the spirit of obsignation, or the confirming
spirit, because it confirms our hope, and assures our
title to life eternal; and by means of it, and other its
collattral assistances, it also confirms us in our duty,
that we may not only profess in word, but live hves
according to the gospel. And this is the sense of
the spirit mentioned in the text, Ye are not in the
flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you : That is, if ye be made partakers of the
gospel, or of the spirit of manifestation, if ye be truly
entitled to God, and have received the promise of the
Father, then are ye not carnal men ; ye are spiritual^
ye are in the spirit : if ye have the Spirit in one
sense to any purpose, ye have it also in another: if
the spirit be in you, you are in it; if it hath given you
hope, it hath also enabled and ascertained your duty.
For the spirit of manifestation will but upbraid you m
the shame and horrours of a sad eternity, if you have

Strm. I. OF THE SPIRIT OP GRACE. ?

not the spirit of obsignation : if the Holy Ghost be not
come upon you to great purposes of holiness, all
other pretences are vain,^c are still in the Jlesh, which
shall never inherit the kingdom of God.

In the spirit] that is, in the power of the spirit. So
the Greeks call him «asw who is possessed by a spirit,
whom God hath filled with a celestial immission; he
is said to be in God., when God is in him. And it
is a similitude taken from persons encompassed with
guards ; they are in custodia, that is,, in their power,
under their command, moved at their dispose, they
rest in their time, and receive laws from their autho-
rity, and admit visiters whom they appoint, and must
be employed as they shall suffer : so are men who
are in the spirit ; that is, they believe as he teaches,
they work as he enables, they choose what he calls
good, they are friends of his friends, and they hate
with his hatred : with this only difference, that per-
sons in custody are forced to do what their keepers
please, and nothing is free but their wills ; but they
that are under the command of the spirit do all things
which the spirit commands, but they do them cheer-
fully ; and their will is now the prisoner, but it is in
libera custodia, the will is where it ought to be, and
where it desires to be, and it cannot easily choose
any thing else, because it is extremely in love with
this : as the saints and angels in their state of bea-
tifick vision cannot choose but love God ; and yet the
liberty of their choice is not lessened, because the
object fills all the capacities of the will and the un-
derstanding. Indifferency to an object is the loAvest
degree of liberty, and supposes unworthiness or de-
fect in the object, or the apprehension : but the will
is then the freest and most perfect in its operation,
when it entirely pursues a good with so certain a de-
termination and clear election, that the contrary
evil caniiot come into dispute or pretence. Such m

8 OK THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Serm. /.

our proportions is the liberty of the Sons of God; it
is a holy and amiable captivity to the spirit : the will
of man is in love with those chains which draw us
to God, and loves the fetters that confine us to the
pleasures and religion of the kingdom. And as no
man will complain that his temples are restrained, and
his head is prisoner, when it is encircled with a crown :
so when the son of God had made us free, and had
only subjected us to the service and dominion of the
spirit, we are free as princes within the circles of
their diadem, and our chains are bracelets, and the
law is a law of liberty, and his service is perfect free-
dom ; and the more we are subjects, the more we
shall reign as kings ; and the faster we run, the easier
is our burden ; and Christ's yoke is like feathers to
a bird, not loads, but helps to motion, without them
the body falls ; and we do not pity birds, when in
summer we wish them unfeathered and callow, or
bald as eggs, that they might be cooler and lighter.
Such is the load and captivity of the soul, when we
do the work of God, and are his servants, and under
the government of the spirit. They that strive to
be quit of this subjection, love the liberty of out-laws,
and the licentiousness of anarchy, and the freedom
of sad widows and distressed orphans : for so rebels,
and fools, and children long to be rid of their princes,
and tlieir guardians, and their tutors, that they may
be accursed without law, and be undone without con-
trol, and be ignorant and miserable without a teacher
and without disciphne. He that is in the spirit is un-
der tutors and governours, until the time appointed of
the Father, just as all great heirs are ; only, the first
seizure the spirit makes, is upon the will. He that
loves the yoke of Christ, and the discipline of the
gospel, he is, in the spirit^ that is, in the spirit's power.
Upon this foundation the apostle hath built these
two propositions. 1. Whosoever hath not the spirit

Serm. I. of the spirit op grace. y

of Christ, he is none of his ; he does not belong to
Christ at all ; he is not partaker of his spirit, and
therefore shall never be partaker of his glory. 2.
Whosoever is in Christ, is dead to sin, and lives to
the spirit of Christ ; that is, lives a spiritual, a holy,
and a sanctified life. These are to be considered
distinctly.

1. All that belong to Christ have the spirit of
Christ. Immediately before the ascension, our blessed
Saviour bid his disciples Tarry in Jerusalem till they
should receive the promise of the Father. Whosoever
stay at Jerusalem., and are in the actual communion
of the church of God, shall certainly receive this
promise. For it is made to you and to your children
(saith St. Peter') and to as many as the Lord our God
shall call. All shall receive the spirit of Christ, the
promise of the Father, because this was the great
instrument of distinction between the law and the
gospel. In the law, God gave his spirit, 1. to some;
to them, 2. extra-regularly, 3. without solemnity,
4. in small proportions, like the dew upon Gideon^s
fleece ; a little portion was wet sometimes with the
dew of heaven, when all the earth besides was dry.
And the Jews called it Jiliam vocis, the daughter of a
voice, still, and small, and seldom, and that by secret
whispers, and sometimes inarticulate, by way of en-
thusiasm, rather than of instruction ; and God spake
by the prophets, transmitting the sound as through
an organ-pipe, things which themselves oftentimes
understood not. But in the gospel, the spirit is given
without measure : first poured forth upon our head
Christ Jesus; then descending upon the beard of
Aaron., the fathers of the church, and thence falling,
like the tears of the balsam of Judaea., upon the foot
of the plant, upon the lowest of the people. And
this is given regularly to ail that ask it, to all that

VOL. n. 3

10 OF THE SPIRIT OP GRACE. Serm. I.

can receive it, and by a solemn ceremony, and con-
veyed by a sacrament : and is now, not the daugfiter
of a voice, but the motlier of many voices, of divided
tongues, and united hearts ; of the tongues of
prophets, and the duty of saints; of the sermons
of apostles, and the wisdom of governours : it is
the parent of boldness and fortitude to martyrs,
the fountain of learning to doctors, an ocean of all
things excellent to all who are within the ship and
bounds of the catholick church: so that old men, and
young men, maidens, and boys, the scribe and the
unlearned, the judge and the advocate, the priest
and the people, are full of the Spirit, if they belong
to God. Moses's wish is fulfilled, and all the Lord's
people are prophets in some sense or other.

In the wisdom of the ancients it was observed, that
there are four o^reat cords which tie the heart of man
to inconvenience, and a prison, making it a servant
of vanity, and an heir of corruption; 1. pleasure,
and 2. pain ; 3. /ear, and 4. desire.

rigof TO Tirecf^cipiot cT' okov,

These are they that exercise all the wisdom and re-
solutions of man, and all the powers that God hath
given him.

61/TO/ yae^*, ovTci Kit Sm irx>ji.yy\w nu

y^oeejiutrt xtu xxiKomnv etv^^uTrm Ktag, said u4gathon.\

"^ Four passions, tyrants of the human heart,
Pleasure, and Pain, Desire, and trembling Fear,
Rule it by turns, and lor the mastery strive.

f These penetrate the inmost heart of men,
Alix with their blood, and revel in their veins.

iSerm. 7. ok the spirit of grace. 11

These are those evil spirits that possess the heart
of man, and mingle with all his actions ; so that
either men are tempted to 1. lust by pleasure^ or 2.
to baser arts by covetousncss\ or 3. to impatience by sor-
row^ or 4. to dishonourable actions by fear : and this
is the state of man by nature, and under the law,
and for ever, till the spirit of God came, and by four
special operations cured these four inconveniences,
and restrained or sweetened these unwholesome
watei's.

1. God gave us his spirit that we might be insen-
sible of worldly pleasures, having our souls wholly
filled with spiritual and heavenly relishes. For when
God"s spirit hath entered into us, and possessed us
as his temple, or as his dwelling, instantly we begin
to taste manna, and to loath the diet of Egypt ; we
begin to consider concerning heaven, and to prefer
eternity before moments, and to love the pleasures of
the soul above the sottish and beastly pleasures of
the body. Then we can consider that the pleasures
of a drunken meeting cannot make recompense for
the pains of a surfeit, and that night's intemperance;
much less for the torments of eternity : then we are
quick to discern that the itch and scab of lustful
appetites is not worth the charges of a chirurgeon ;
much less can it pay for the disgrace, the danger,
the sickness, the death and the hell of lustful persons.
Then we wonder that any man should venture his
head to get a crown unjustly; or that for the hazard
of a victory, he should throw away all his hopes of
heaven certainly.

A man that hath tasted of God's spirit can instantly
discern the madness that is in rage, the folly and the
disease that is in envy, the anguish and tediousness
that is in lust, the dishonour that is in breaking our
/aith and telling a lie; and understands things truly
as they are; that is, that charity is the greatest

12 OP THE sriRiT OF GRACE. SeriH. 7r

nobleness in the world ; that religion hath in it the
greatest pleasures ; that temperance is the best se-
curity of health ; that humility is the surest way to
honour. And all these relishes are nothing but ante-
pasts of heaven, where the quintessence of all these
pleasures shall be swallowed for ever ; where the
chaste shall follow the Lamb, and the virgins sing
there where the mother of God shall reign ; and the
zealous converters of souls, and labourers in God's
vineyard, shall Avorship eternally; where St. Peter
and St. Paul do wear their crowns of righteousness ;
and the patient persons shall be rewarded with Job^
and the meek persons with Christ and Moses and all
with God : the very expectation of which, proceeded
from a hope begotten in us by the spirit of manifesta-
tion., and bred up and strengthened by the spirit of
obsignation., is so delicious an entertainment of all
our reasonable appetites, that a spiritual man can no
more be removed or enticed from the love of God
and of religion, than the moon from her orb, or a
mother from loving the son of her joys, and of her
sorrows.

This was observed by St. Peter [As new-born babes
desire the sincere milk of the word^ that ye may grow
thereby ; if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is
gracious.*] When once we have tasted the grace of
God, the sweetnesses of his spirit ; then no food but
the food of afigels, no cup but the cup of salvation., the
divining cup., in which we drink salvation to our God.,
and call upon the name of the Lord with ravishment
and thanksgiving. And there is no greater external
testimony that we are in the spirit, and that the spirit
dwells in us , than if we find joy and delight and spiri-
tual pleasures in the greatestmysteries of our religion ;
if we communicate often, and that with appetite, and
a forward choice, and an unwearied devotion, and a

* 1 Pet. ii. 2.

Serm. I. of the spirit ok grace. 13

heart truly fixed upon God, and upon the offices of a
holy worship. He that loaths good meat is sick at
heart, or near it ; and he that despises, or hath not
a holy appetite to the food of angels, the wine of
elect souls, is fit to succeed the prodigal at his ban-
quet of sin and husks, and to be partaker of the table
of devils : but all they who have God's spirit love to
feast at the supper of the Lamb, and have no appe-
tites but what are of the spirit, or servants to the
spirit. I have read of a spiritual person, who saw
heaven but in a dream, but such as made great im-
pression upon him, and was represented with vigo-
rous and pertinacious phantasms, not easily disband-
ing; and when he awaked he knew not his cell, he
remembered not him that slept in the same dorture,
nor could tell how night and day were distinguished,
nor could discern oil from wine ; but called out for
his vision again : Redde mihi campos meos floridos,
columnam auream, comitem Hieronymum, assistenfes an-
gelos ; Give me my fields again, my most delicious
fields, my pillar of a glorious light, my companion
St. Jerome, my assistant angels. And this lasted
till he was told of his duty, and matter of obedience,
and the fear of a sin had disencharmed him, and
caused him to take care lest he lose the substance
out of greediness to possess the shadow.

And if it were given to any of us to see paradise,
or the third heaven, (as it was to St. Paul) could it
be that ever we should love any thing but Christ, or
follow any guide but the spirit, or desire any thing
but heaven, or understand any thing to be pleasant
but what shall lead thither ? Now what a vision can
do, that the spirit doth certainly to them that en-
tertain him. They that have him really, and not in
pretence only, are certainly great despisers of the
things of the world. The spirit doth not create, or
enlarge our appetites of things below : spiritual men

14 OF THE sprKiT OF CRACK. Serm. /.

are not designed to reign upon earth, but to reign
over their lusts and sottish appetites. The Spirit
doth not inllame our thirst of wealth, but extin-
guishes it, and makes us to esteem all things as losSj
and as dung, so that ive may gain Christ. No gain
then is pleasant but godliness, no ambition but long-
ings after heaven, no revcnofe but ao;ainst ourselves
forsinnmg; nothing but God and Christ: Deus mens,
et omnia : and date nobis animas, caetera vobis tollite,
(as the king of Sodom said to Mraham,^ secure but
the souls to us, and take our goods. Indeed this is a
good sign that we have the spirit.

St. ^John spake a hard saying, but by the spirit of
manifestation we arc all tauofht to understand it:
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his
seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God* The seed of God is the spirit, which
hath a plastick power to efform us in similitudinemfilio'
rwn Dei, into the image of the sons of God, and as
long as this remains in us, while the spirit dwells in
us, we cannot sin ; that is, it is against our natures,
our reformed natures to sin. And as we say, we can-
not endure such a potion, we cannot suffer such a
pain; that is, we cannot without great trouble, we
cannot without doinc: violence to our nature ; so all
spuitual men, all that are born of God and the seed of
God remains in them, they cannot sin ; cannot with-
out trouble, and doing against their natures, and
their most passionate inclinations. A man, if you
speak naturally, can masticate gums, and he can
break his own legs, and he can sip up by httle
draughts mixtures of aloes, and rhubard, of henbane,
or the deadly nightshade ; but he cannot do this
naturally, or willingly, cheerfully, or with delight,
every sin is against a good man's nature: he is ill at
ease when he hath missed his usual prayers, he is

* 1 Ep. iii. 9.

Serm. I. op the spirit op grace. 15

amazed if he have fallen into an errour, he Is Infinitely
ashamed of his imprudence ; he remembers a sin as
he thinks of an enemy, or the horrours of a midnight
apparition : for all his capacities, his understanding,
and his choosing faculties are filled up with the opinion
and persuasions, with the love and with the desires,
of God. And this, I say, is the great benefit of
the spirit, which God hath given to us as an antidote
against worldly pleasures. And therefore St. Paul
joins them as consequent to each other : [For it is
impossible for those who were once enlightened^ and have
tasted of the heavenly gift-, and were made partakers of
the Holy Ghost^ and have tasted the good word of God,
and the powers of the world to come, 8{c.*] First, we
are enlightened in baptism, and by the spirit of mani-
festation, the revelations of the Gospel : then we
relish and taste interiour excellencies, and we receive
the Holy Ghost, the spirit of confirmation, and he
gives us a taste of the powers of the world to come ;
that is, of the great efficacy that is in the article of
eternal life, to persuade us to religion and holy living:
then we feel that as the belief of that article dwells
upon our understanding, and is incorporated into our
wills and choice, so we grow powerful to resist sin by
the strengths of the spirit, to defy all carnal pleasure,
and to suppress and mortify it by the powers of this
article : those are the poivers of the world to come.

2. The spirit of God is given to all who truly
belong to Christ, as an antidote against sorrows,
against impatience, against the evil accidents of the
world, and against the oppression and sinking of our
spirits under the cross. There are in scripture noted
two births besides the natural; to which also by ana-
logy we may add a third. The first is to be born of
water and the spirit. It is h ^la. ^uw, one thing signified

* Heb. vi. 4.

16 OP THE SPIRIT OF GUACE. Semi. /•

by a divided appellative, by two substantives, [water
and the spirit,] that is, spiritus aqtieus, the spirit mov-
ing upon the waters of baptism. The second is to be
born of spirit and fire, for so Christ was promised to
baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire ; that
is, cum spiritu igneo, with a fiery spirit, the spirit as
it descended in Pentecost in the shape of fiery tongues.
And as the watery spirit washed away the sins of the
church, so the spirit of fire enkindles charity and
the love of God. To wg KnBa.i^it, to Hug iyvi^it, (says Plu-
tarch) the spirit is the same under both the titles,
and it enables the church with gifts and graces.
And from these there is another operation of the
new birth, but the same spirit, the spirit of rejoic-
ing, or spiritus exultans, spiritus laetitiae. JVow the
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope through the potver of the
Holy Ghost* There is a certain joy and spiritual
rejoicing, that accompanies them in whom the Holy
Ghost doth dwell ; a joy in the midst of sorrow ; a
joy given to allay the sorrows of secular troubles,
and to alleviate the burthen of persecution. This
St. Paul notes to this purpose ; \y^nd ye became fol-
lowers of us and of the Lord, having received the word
in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.^l
Worldly afflictions and spiritual joys may very well
dwell together ; and if God did not supply us out of
his store-houses, the sorrows of this world would be
more and unmixed, and the troubles of persecution
would be too great for natural confidences. For
who shall make him recompense that lost his life in
a duel fought about a draught of wine, or a cheaper
woman ? What arguments shall invite a man to
suffer torments in testimony of a proposition of natu-
ral philosophy } And by what instruments shall we

* Rom. XV. 13. f 1 Thes. i, 6.

Serm. I. op the spirit op grace. 17

comfort, a man who is sick, and poor, and disgraced,
and vicious, and lies cursing, and despairs of any
thing hereafter ? That man's condition proclaims
what it is to want the spirit of God, the spirit of com-
fort. Now this spirit of comfort is the hope and
confidence, the certain expectation of partaking in
the inheritance o[ Jesus, This is the faith atid patience
of the saints ; this is the refreshment of all wearied
travellers, the cordial of all languishing sinners, the
support of the scrupulous, the guide of the doubtful,
the anchor of timorous and fluctuating souls, the con-
fidence and the staif of the penitent. He that is de-
prived of his whole estate for a good conscience, by
the spirit he meets this comfort, that he shall find it
again with advantage in the day of restitution : and
this comfort was so manifest in the first days of
Christianity, that it was no unfrequent thing to see
holy persons court a martyrdom with a fondness as
great as is our impatience and timorousness in every
persecution. Till the spirit of God comes upon us
we are oKiyo^vxoi. Inopis nos atque piisilli finxerunt animi ;
we have little souls, little faith, and as little patience;
we fall at every stumbling block, and sink under
every temptation; and our hearts fail us, and we die
for fear of death, and lose our souls to preserve our
estates or our persons, till the spirit of God fills us
with joy in believing : and the man that is in a great
joy cares not for any trouble that is less than his
joy ; and God hath taken so great care to secure this
to us, that he hath turned it into a precept. Rejoice
evermore ; and Rejoice in the Lord always, and again
I say rejoice* But this rejoicing must be only in
the hope that is laid up for us, «v iKmS-i x^^epy^ic so the
apostle, rejoicing in hope.'f For although God some-

* Thes. V. 16. t Ro!B. xii. 12.

VOL. II. 4

18 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Serm. I.

times makes a cup ofsensible comfort to overflow the
spirit of a man, and thereby loves to refresh his sor-
rows ; yet this is from a secret principle not regularly
given, not to be waited for, not to be prayed for,
and it may fail us if we think upon it : but the hope
of life eternal can never fail us, and the joy of that
is great enough to make us suffer any thing, or to
do any thing.

Ibiinus, ibiiuus,

Utcunque praecedes, supremum
Carpere iter coinites parati.*

To death, to bands, to poverty, to banishment, to
tribunals, any whither in hope of life eternal ; as
long as this anchor holds, we may suffer a storm, but
cannot suffer shipwreck. And I desire you by the
way to observe how good a God we serve, and how
excellent a religion Christ taught, when one of his
great precepts is, that we should rejoice and be ex-
ceeding glad: and God hath given us the spirit of re-
joicing, not a sullen, melancholy spirit; not the spirit
of bondage or of a slave, but the spirit of his Son,
consigning us by a holy conscience io joys unspeaka-
ble and full of glory. And from hence you may also
infer, that those who sink under a persecution, or
are impatient in a sad accident, they put out their
own fires which the Spirit of the Lord hath kindled,
and lose those glories which stand behind the cloud.

* Hor. Lib. 2. od. 17. v. 10.

One day, believe the sacred oath,
Shail lead the funeral pomp of both ;
Cheerful to Pluto's dark abode
With thee I'll tread the dreary road.

Serm. II. of the spirit of grace. 19

SERMON II.

PART 11.

3. The spirit of God is given us as an antidote
against evil concupiscences and sinful desires, and is
then called the spirit of prayer and supplication. For
ever since the affections of the outward man pre-
vailed upon the ruins of the soul, ail our desires
were sensual, and therefore hurtful: for ever after,
our body grew to be our enemy. In the loosenesses
of nature, and amongst the ignorance or imperfec-
tion of Gentile philosophy, men used to pray with
their hands full of rapine, and their mouths full of
blood ; and their hearts full of malice ; and they
prayed accordingly, for an opportunity to steal, for
a fair body, for a prosperous revenge, for a pre-
vailing malice, for the satisfaction of whatsoever they
could be tempted to by any object, by any lust, by
any devil whatsoever.

The Jews were better taught, for God was their
teacher, and he gave the spirit to them in single
rays. But as the spirit of obsignation was given to
them under a seaU and within a veil; so the spirit of
manifestation or patefaction was like the gem of a vine,
or the bud of a rose, plain indices and significations
of life, and principles of juice and sweetness; but
yet scarce out of the doors of their causes : they
had the infancy of knowledge, and revelations to
them were given as catechism is taught to our
children; which they read with the eye of a bird,
and speak with the tongue of a bee, and understand
with the heart of a child ; that is, weakly and im-
perfectly. And they understand so little, that, 1.

20 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. ^efM. IL

They thought God heard them not, unless they
spake their prayers, at least efforming their words
within their lips: and 2. Their forms oiprayer were
so few and seldom, that to teach a form of prayer,
or to compose a collect, was thought a work fit for a
prophet, or the founder of an institution. 3. Add to
this, that as their promises were temporal, so were
their hopes ; as were their hopes, so were their de-
sires ; and according to their desires, so were their
prayers. And although the psalms of David was
their great office, and the treasury of devotion to
their nation, (and very worthily ;) yet it was full of
wishes for temporals, invocations of God the aven-
ger^ on God the Lord of hosts, on God the enemy
of their enemies; and they desired their nation to
be prospered, and themselves blessed, and distin-
guished from all the world by the effects of such de-
sires. This was the state of prayer in their syna-
gogues ; save only that it had also this allay ; 4.
That their addresses to God were crass, material,
typical, and full of shadows and imaginary, and pat-
terns of things to come ; and so in its very being and
constitution was relative and imperfect. But that we
may see how great things the Lord hath done for us,
God hath poured his spirit into our hearts, the spirit of
prayer and supplication.

And now, 1. Christians ^ra^ in their spirit, with
sighs and groans, and know that God, who dwells
WJthin them, can as clearly distinguish those secret
accents, and read their meaning in the spirit, as
plainly as he knows the voice of his own thunder,
or could discern the letter of the law written in the
tables of stone by the finger of God.

2. Likewise the spirit helpeth our infirmities ; for
we know not what we should pray for as we ought. That
is, when God sends an affliction or persecution upon
us, we are indeed extreme apt to lay our hand upon

Serm. II. of the spirit of grace. 21

the wound, and never take it off, but when wc hft
it up in prayer to be dehvered from that sadiuss;
and tlien we pray fervently to be cured of a sickness,
to be dehvered from a tyrant, to be snatched from
the grave, not to perish in the danger. But th(^
Spirit of God hath from all sad accidents drawn the
veil of errour and the cloud of nilolerableness, and
taught us that our happiness cannot consist in free-
dom or deliverances from persecutions, but in pa-
tience, resignation, and noble sufferance ; and that
we are not then so blessed when God hath turned
our scourges into ease and delicacy, as when we
convert our very scorpions into the exercise of vir-
tues : so that now the spirit having helped our infirmi-
ties^ that is, comforted our weaknesses and afflictions,
our sorrow and impatience, by this proposition, that
\y^ll things work together for the good of them that
fear God^] he hath taught us to pray for grace, for
patience under the cross, for charity to our persecu-
tors, for rejoicing in tribulations, for perseverance
and boldness in the faith, and for whatsoever will
bring us safely to heaven.

3. Whereas only a Moses or a Samuel., a David
or a Daniel., a John the Baptist or the Messias him-
self, could describe and indite forms of prayer and
thanksgiving to the tune and accent of heaven ; now
every wise and good man is instructed perfectly in
the scriptures (which are the writings of the spirit)
what things he may, and what things he must ask for.

4. The spirit of God hath made our services to
be spiritual, intellectual, holy, and effects of choice
and religion, the consequence of a spiritual sacri-
fice, and of a holy union with God. The prayer
of a Christian is with the effects of the spirit ofsanc-
ti/ication ; and then we pray with the spirit., when we
pray with holiness, which is the great fruit, the prin-
cipal gift of the spirit. And this is by Saint James

22 OP THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Scrm IL

caWed [the prayer of faith.] <ind is said to be certain
that it sliall prevail. Such a praying with the spirit
when our prayers are the voices of our spirits, and
our spirits are Hrst taught, then sanctified by God's
Spirit, shall never fail of its effect ; because then it
is that the spirit himself maketh intercession for us ;
that is, hath enabled us to do it upon his strengths;
we speak his sense, we live his life, we breathe his
accents, we desire in order to his purposes, and our
persons are gracious by his holiness, and are accept-
ed by his interpellation and intercession in the act
and offices of Christ. This is praying with the spirit.
To which, by way of explication, I add these two
annexes of holy prayer, in respect of which also
every good man prays with the spirit.

5. The spirit gives us great relish and appetite to
our prayers ; and this Saint Paul calls [serving of
God in his spirit* «v mivy.a.'n fj^ov} that is, with a willing
mind : not as Jonas did his errand, but as Christ did
die for us ; he was straightened till he had accom-
plished it. And they that say their prayers out of
custom only, or to comply with external circumstan-
ces or collateral advantages, or pray with trouble
and unwillingness, give a very great testimony that
they have not the spirit of Christ within them, that
spirit which maketh intercession for the saifits : but he
that delighteth in his prayers, not by a sensible or
fantastick pleasure, but whose choice dwells in his
prayers, and whose conversation is with God in holy
living, and praying accordingly, that man hath the
spirit of Christ, and therefore belongs to Christ; for
by this spirit it is that Christ prays in heaven for us :
and if we do not pray on earth in the same manner
according to our measures, we had as good hold our
peace ; our prayers are an abominable sacrifice, and

* Roiu. i. 9-

Serm. II. of thk spirit of grace. 23

send up to God no better a perfume, than if ^ve
burned assa foetida, or the raw flesh of a murdered
man upon the altar of incense.

6. The spirit of Christ and of prayer helps our in-
firmities, by giving us confidence and importunity.
I put them together : For as our faith is, and our
trust in God, so is our hope, and so is our prayer;
weary or lasting, long or short, not in words, but in
works, and in desires. For the words of prayer are
no part of the spirit of prayer. Words may be the
body of it, but the spirit of prayer always consists
in holiness, that is, in holy desires, and holy actions.
Words are not properly capable of being holy; all
words are in themselves servants of things; and the
holiness of a prayer is not at all concerned in the
manner of its expression, but in the spirit of it, that
is, in the violence of its desires, and the innocence of
its ends, and the continuance of its employment.
This is the verification of that great prophecy which
Christ made, that [in all the icorld the true tvorshippers
should ivorship in spirit and in truth f\ that is, with a
pure mind, with holy desires, for spiritual things, ac-
cording to the mind of the spirit, in the imitation of
Christ's intercession, with perseverance, with charity
or love. That is the spirit of God, and these are
the spiritualities of the gospel, and the formahties
of prayers as they are christian and evangelical.

7. Some men have thought of a seventh way, and
explicate our praying in the spirit by a mere volubi-
litv of lano^uag-e: which indeed is a direct undervalu-
ing the spirit of God and of Christ, the spirit of mani-
festation and intercession ; it is to return to the ma-
teriality and imperfection of the law ; it is to wor-
ship God in outward forms, and to think that God's
service consists in shells and rinds, in lips and voices,
in shadows and images of things; it is to retire from
Christ to Moses, and, at the best, it is going from real

34 OK THE SPIRIT OK GRACE. Scnil. IL

graces to imaginary gifts. And when praying with
the spirit hath in it so many excellences, and consists
of so many parts of hohness, and sanctification, and
is an act of the inner man ; we shall be infinitely
mistaken, if we let go this substance, and catch at
the shadow, and sit down and rest in the imagina-
tion of an improbable, unnecessary, useless gift of
speakings to which the nature of many men, and the
art of all learned men, and the very use and confi-
dence of ignorant men, is too abundantly sufficient.
Let us not so despise the spirit of Christ, as to make
it no other than the breath of ourlungSc For though
it might be possible that at the first, and when forms
of prayer were few and seldom, the spirit of God
might dictate the very words to the apostles, and
first Christians; yet it follows not that therefore he
does so still to all that pretend praying with the
spirit. For if he did not then, at the first, dictate
words, (as we know not whether he did or no) why
shall he be supposed to do so now ? If he did then,
it follows that he does not now ; because his doing
it then was sufficient for all men since : for so the
forms taught by the spirit were patterns for others
to imitate in all the descending ages of the church.
There was once an occasion so great, that the
spirit of God did think it a work fit for him, to teach
a man to weave silk, or embroider gold, or Avork in
brass, (as it happened to Bezaleel and Jlholiab ;)
But then every weaver or worker in brass, may, bj
the same reason, pretend that he works by the spirit,
as that he prays by the spirit, if by prayer he means
forming the words. For although in the case of
working it was certain that the spirit did teach, in
the case of inditinof or forming^ the words it is not
certain whether he did or no; yet because in both
It was extraordinary, (if it was at all) and ever since
in both it is infinitely needless; to pretend the spirit

Senn. II. of the spirit of grace. 25

in forms of every man's making, (even though they
be of contrary religions, and pray one against the
other) it may serve an end of a fantaslick and hypo-
condriacal rehgion, or a secret ambition, but not the
ends of God, or the honour of the spirit. The
Jews in their declensions to folly and idolatry did
vrorshlp the stone of imagination, that is, certain
smooth images, in which, by art magick, pictures and
little faces were represented, declaring hidden things
and stolen goods ; and God severely forbade this
baseness.* But we also have taken up this folly, and
worship the stone of Imagination : we beget imper-
fect fantasms and speculative images in our fancy,
and we fall down and worship them ; never consider-
ing that the spirit of God never appears through such
spectres. Prayer is one of the noblest exercises of
christian religion ; or rather it is that duty in Avhich
all graces are concentrated. Prayer is charity, it is
faith, it Is a conformity to God's will, a desiring ac-
cordinof to the desires of heaven, an imitation of
Christ's intercession, and prayer must suppose all
holiness, or else it is nothing: and therefore all that
in which men need God's spirit, all that is in order to
prayer. Baptism is but a prayer, and the holy sa-
crament of the Lord's supper is but a prayer; a
prayer of sacrifice representative, and a prayer of
oblation, and a prayer of intercession, and a prayer
of thanksgiving. And obedience is a prayer, and
begs and procures blessings: and if the Holy Ghost
hath sanctified the whole man, then he hath sanctified
the prayer of the man, and not till then. And if
ever there was, or could be any other praying with
the spirit, it was such a one as a wicked man might
have ; and therefore it cannot be a note of dlstinc-

* Levit. XX vi 1.
VOL. II. 5

26 OF THE SPIRIT OP GRACE. Scrm. IL

tion between the good and bad, between the saints
and men of the world. But this only (which I have
described from the fountains of scripture) is that
which a o^ood man can have, and tliereforc this is it
in which we ought to rejoice; that he that glories, maif
glory in the Lord.

Thus, 1 have, (as I could) described the effluxes
of the Holy Spirit upon us in his great channels.
But the great effect of them is this ; That as by the
arts of the spirits of darkness and our own mahce,
our souls are turned into flesh, (not in the natural
sense, but in the moral and theological,) and anima-
Us homo is the same with carnalis, that is, his soul is
a servant of the passions and desires of the flesh,
and is flesh in its operations and ends, in its princi-
ples asid actions : so, on the other side, by the gi ace
of God, and the promise of the Father, and the in-
fluences of the Holy Ghost, our souls are not only
recovered from the state of flesh, and reduced back
to the intireness of animal operations, but they are
heightened into spirit, and transformed into a neio
nature. And this is a new article, and now to be
considered.

St. Hierome tells of the custom of the empire;
when a tyrant was overconje, they used to break the
head of bis statues, and upon the same trunk to set
the head of the conqueror, and so it passed wholly
for the new prince. So it is in the kin.s^dom of grace.
As soon as the tyrant Sin is overcome, and a new
heart is put into us, or that we serve under a new
head, instantly we have a new name given us, and we
are esteemed a new creation j and not only changed
in manners, but we have a new nature v, ithln us,
even a third part of an essential constitution. This
may seem strange ; and indeed it is so : and it is
one of the great mysteriousnesscs of the gospel.
Every man naturally consists of soul and body;

Serm. If. of the spirit of grace. 27

but every cliristlan man that belona's to Christ hath
more : for he hath 6ody^ and soul, and spirit. My text
is plain for it. If any man have not the spirit of Christ,
he is none of his. And by [^y^/nV] is not meant only
the graces of God, and his gifts enahhng us to do
hol\ thin<^s: there is more belongs to a good man
than so. Bui as when God made man, he made him
afl'-^r his own image, and breathed into him the spirit
of life., and he was made in animam viventem, into a
living soul ; then he was made a man: So in tiie new
creation, Christ, by ichom God made both the worlds,
intends to conform us to his image, and he hath
given us tlie spirit of adoption, by which we are made
sons of God ; and by the spirit of a new hfe we are
made neiv creatures, capable of a new state, entitled
to another manner of duration, enabled to do new
and greater actions in order to higher ends ; we have
new alfcctions, new understandings, new wills ; Ve-
tera transierunt, et ecce omnia nova facta sunt ; Jlll
things are become new. And this is called the seed of
God, when it relates to the principle and cause of
this production; But the thing that is produced is a
spirit, and that is as much in nature beyond a soul, as
a soul is beyond a body. This great mystery I should
not utter but upon the gieatest authority in the
world, and from an infallible doctor, I mean St. Paul,
who, from Christ, taught the church more secrets
than all the whole college besides ; [And the very
God of peace sanctify you wholly : and I pray God that
your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blame-
less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.*] We
are not sanctified wholly, nor preserved in safety,
unless, besides our souls and bodies, our spirit also
be kept blameless. This distinction is nice, and in-
finitely above human reason ; but The word of God

* 1 Tbess. V. 23.

48 OF THE BPIRIT OF GRACE. b'erm IL

(salth the same apostle) is sharper than a two-edged
sword^ piercing even to the dividing asunder the soul and
the spirit ;* and that hath taught us to distinguish
the principle of a new hfe from the principle of the
old, the celestial from the natural ; and thus it is.

The spirit (as I now discourse of it) is a princi-
ple infused into us by God when we become his chil-
dren, whereby we live the life of grace, and under-
stand the secrets of the kingdom, and have passions
and desires of things beyond and contrary to our
natural appetites, enabling us not only to sobriety,
(which is the duty of the body) not only to justice
which is the rectitude of the soul, but to such a
sanctity as makes us like to God. For so saith the
spirit of God; Be ye holy^ as J am: be pure, be per-
fect, as your heavenly Father is pure, as he is perfect :
which because it cannot be a perfection of degrees,
it must be in similitudine naturae, in the likeness of
that nature which God hath given us in the new
birth, that by it we might resemble his excellency and
holiness. And this I conceive to be the meaning of
St. Peter, [^/iccording as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness ;
(that is, to this new life of godliness) through the
knoiclcdge of him that hath called its to glory and vir-
tue : ivhereby are given unto us exceeding great and pre-
cious promises, that by these you might he partakers of
the divine nature :'l] so we read it; but it is something
mistaken: it is not the wc a^w <pua-ie»c, [^The Divine na-
ture,] for God's nature is indivisible, and incommu-
nicable ; but it is spoken participative, or per atialo-
giam, [partakers of a Divine iiature,] that is ol this
new and God-like nature given to every person that
serves God, whereby he is sanctified and made the
child of God, and framed into the likeness of Christ.

* Heb. iv. 12. t 2 Epist. i. 3, 4.

Serm. II. op the spirit op grace. 29

The Greeks generally call this x*i"^f^*> « gracious
gift,, an extraordinary super-addition to nature ; not
a single gift in order to single purposes, but an uni-
versal principle; and it remains upon all good men
during their lives, and after their death, and is that
white stone spoken of in the Revelation, and in it a new
name written^ ivliich no man knowefh he that hath it ;*
and by this, God's sheep at the day of judgment
shall be discerned from goats. If their spirits be
presented to God pure and unblameable, this great
;t«§'«^A'«. this talent which God hath given to all Chris-
tians to improve in the banks of grace and of reli-
gion, if they bring this to God increased and grown
up to the fulness of the measure of Christ, (for it
is Christ's spirit ; and as it is in us it is called the sup-
ply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, "f then we shall be
acknowledged for sons, and our adoption shall pass
into an eternal inheritance in the portion of our
elder brother.

I need not to apply this discourse : the very mys-
tery itself is in the whole world the greatest engage-
ment of our duty that is imaginable, by way of in-
strument, and by the way of thankfulness.

Quisquis magna dedit, voluit sibi magna rependi ; {

He that gives great things to us ought to have great
acknowledgments : and Seneca said concerning wise
men. That he that doth benefits to others, hides
those benefits as a man lays up great treasures in the
earth, which he must never see with his eyes unless
a great occasion forces him to dig the graves, and
produce that which he buried ; but all the while the
man was hugely rich, and he had the wealth of a

* Apoch. ii, 17. t Phil. i. 19.
\ Large services a large return demand. A.

30 OF THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Semi. 11,

great relation. So it is with God and us : for this
huge benefit of the spirit, which God gives us, is
for our good deposited into our souls; not made for
forms and ostentation, not to be looked upon, orseive
little ends; but growing in the secret of our souls,
and swelling up to a treasure making us in this wo? id
rich by title and relation, but it shall be produced in
the great necessities of dooms-day. In the m'^ani
time, if the fire be quenched, the fire of God's sj irit,
God will kindle another in his anger that shall never
be quenched : but if we entertain God's spirit with
our own purities, and employ it diligently, and serve
it wiliingiy, (for God's spirit Is a loving spirit) then
we sliaii really be turned into spirits. Irenaeus had
a proverbial saying, Perfecti sunt (jui tria sine querela
Deo exhibent : They that present three things right
to God, they are perfect ; that is, a chaste body^ a
righteous soid^ and a holy spirit. And the event shall
be this, which Maimonides expressed not amiss,
(though he did not at all understand the secret of
this mystery ;) the soul of man in this life is in poien-
lia ad esse spiritum, it is designed to be a spirit, but
in the world to come it shall be actually as very a
spirit as an angel is. And this state is expressed by
the apostle, calling it [the earnest of the spirit ;] that
is, here it is begun, and given us as an antepast of
glory, and a principle of grace; but then we shall
have it in plenitudine.

regit idem spiritus artus

Orbe alio-

Here and there it is the same ; but here we have
the earnest, there the riches and the inheritance.

* Liican. Lib. I. ^.'ie.
The immortal soul survives in other worlds. A.

Serm. II. of the spirit of grace. 31

But then, if this be a new principle, and be given
us in order to the actions of a holy life, we must
take care that we receive not the spirit of God in
vain^ but remember that it is a new life : and as no
man can pretend that a person is alive, that doth not
always do the works of life ; so it is certain no man
hath the spirit of God, but he that lives the life of
grace, and doth the works of the spirit, that is, in
all holiness., and justice and sobriety.

Spiritus qui accedit animo^ vel Dei est, vel daemO'
nis (said lertullian:) Every man hath within him
the spirit of God or the spirit of the devil. The
spirit of fornication is an unclean devil, and extremely
contrary to the spirit of God ; and so is the spirit of
malice or uncharitabieness ; for the spirit of God is
the spiiit of love : for as by purities God's spirit
sanctities the body, so by love he purifies the soul,
and makes the soul grow into a spirit, into a divine
nature. But God knows that even in christian so-
cieties we see the devils walk up and down every
day and every hour; the devil of uncleanncss, and the
devil of drunkenness; the devil of malice, and the
devil of rage ; the spirit of filthy-speaking, and the
spirit of detraction, a proud spirit, and the spirit of
rebelhon : and yet all call [Christian.] It is gene-
rally supposed, that unclean spirits walk in the
nigiit ; and so it used to be ;for they that arc drunk,
are drunk in the night., said tiie apostle. But Sui-
das telis of certain empusae that used to appear at
noon, at such times as the Greeks did celebrate the
funerals of the dead ; and at this day some of the
Russians fear the noon-day devil., which appeareth
like a mourning widow to reapers of hay and corn,
and uses to break their arms and legs unless they
worship her. Tiie prophet David speaketh of both
klnJs : Thou shalt not be afraid for the tcrrour by night ;
nnd., a rnina et daemonio meridiano, from the devil at

82 ov THE SPIRIT OK GRACE. Semi. II'

noon thou shall be free.* It were happy if we were so:
but besides the solemn followers of the works of
darkness in the times and proper seasons of dark-
ness, there are very many who act their scenes of
darkness in the face of the sun, in open defiance of
God, and all laws, and all modesty. There is in such
men the spirit of impudence, as well as of impiety.
And yet I mijo^ht have expressed it higher; for every
habitual sin doth not only put us into the power of
the devil, but turns us into his very nature: just as
the Holy Ghost transforms us into the image of God.
Here, therefore, 1 have a greater argument to
persuade you to holy living than Moses had to the
sons of Israel. Behold, I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing ; so said Moses : but I add,
that I have, upon the stock of this scripture, set be-
fore you the good Spirit and the bad, God and the
devil : choose unto whose nature you will be likened,
and into whose inheritance you will be adopted, and
into whose possession you will enter. If you com-
mit sin, you are of your father the devil, ye are begot
of his principles, and follow his pattern, and shall
pass into his portion, when ye are led captive by him
at his will ; and remember what a sad thing it is to go
into the portion of evil and accursed spirits, the sad
and eternal portion of devils. But he that hath the
spirit of God, doth acknov/ledge God for his father
and his lord, lie despises the world, and hath no vio-
lent appetites for secular pleasures, and is dead to
the desires of this life, and his hopes are spiritual,
and God is his joy, and Christ is his pattern and sup-
port, and religion is his employment, and godliness is
his gain : and this man understands the things of
God, and is ready to die for Christ, and fears nothing
but to sin against God; and his will is filled with

'* Psal. ifi. .'/.

Serm. If. of the spirit of grace. 3U

love, and it springs out In obedience to God, and in
charity to his brother. And of such a man we can-
not make judgment by his fortune, or by his acquaint-
ance ; by his circumstances, or by his adlierences;
for they are the appendages of a natural man : but
the spiritual is judged of no man ,' that is, the rare ex-
cellencies that make him happy do not yel make him
illustrious, unless we will reckon virtue to be a great
fortune, and holiness to be great wisdom, and God to
be the best friend, and Christ the best relative, and
the spirit the hugest advantage, and heaven the
greatest reward. He that knows how to value these
things, may sit down and reckon the fehcities of him
that hath the spirit of God.

The purpose of this discourse Is this; That since
the spirit of God is a new nature, and a new life put
into us, we are thereby taug-ht and enabled to serve
God by a constant course of holy living, without the
frequent returns and intervening of such actions
which men are pleased to call sins of infirmity. Who-
soever hath the spirit of God lives the life of grace.
The spirit of God rules in him, and is strong accord-
ins: to its ao'e and abode, and allows not of those
often sins which we think unavoidable, because we
call them natural infirmities. iBut if Christ be in you.,
the body is dead because of sin ; but the spirit is life be-
cause of righteousness.] The state of sin is a state of
death. The state of a man under the law was a
state of bondage and infirmity, (as St. Paul largely
describes him in the seventh chapter to the Romans:)
but he that hath the spirit is made alive, and free and
strong, and a conqueror over all the powers and
violences of sin. Such a man resists temptations,
falls not under the assault of sin, returns not to the
sin which he last repented of, acts no more that
errour which brought him to shame and sorrow: but

VOL. n. (i

'3A OP THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Sevm. IL

he that falls under a crime to which he still hath a
strong and vig;orous inclination, he that acts his sin,
and then curses it, and then is tempted, and then
sins again, and then weeps again, and calls himself
miserable, but still the enchantment hath confined
him to that circle; this man hath not the spirit: for
where file spirit of God is, there is liberty; there is no
such bondaire. and a returning- foil' to the commands
of sin. But because men deceive themselver \Mth
calling this bondage a pitiable and excusable i?ip}mily,
it will not be useless to consider the state of this
question more particularly, lest men, from the state
of di pretended infirmity, fall into a real death.

]. No great sin is a sin of hfirmity, or excusable
upon that stock. But that I may be undeistood, we
must know that every sin is in some sense or other
a sin of infirmity. When a man is in the state of spiri-
tual sickness or death, he is in a state of infirmity;
for he is a wounded man, a prisoner, a slave, a sick
man, weak in his judgment, and weak in his reason-
ings, impotent in his passions, of childish resolutions,
great inconstancy, and his purposes untwist as easily
as the rude conjuncture of uncombining cables in the
violence of a Northern tempest ; and he that is thus
in infirmity cannot be excused ; for it is the aggrava-
tion of the state of his sin ; he is so infirm that he
is in a state unable to do his duty. Such a man is
a servant of sin, a slave of the devil, an heir of cor-
ruption, absolutely under command : and every man
is so who resolves for ever to avoid such a sin, and
yet for ever falls under it. For what can he be but
a servant of sin, who fain would avoid it, but can-
not } that is, he hath not the spirit of God within
him; Christ dwells not in his soul; for where the
Son iij there is liberty : and all that are in the spirit are
the sons of God, and servants of righteousness, and
therefore freed from sin. But then there are also

!Serm. II. of the spirit of gracp.. 35

sins of in/lrmiti/ which are single actions, intervening
selJom, in little instances unavoidable, or through a
faultless ignorance: Such as these arc always the
allays of the life of the best men; and for these
Christ hath paid, and they are never to be account-
ed to good men, save only to make them more wary
and more humble. Now concerning these it is that
I say, No great sin is a sin of excusable or unavoid-
able infirmity : Because whosoever hath received
the spirit of God, hath sufficient knowledge of his
duty, and sufficient strengths of grace, and sufficient
advertency of mind, to avoid such things as do great
and apparent violence to piety and religion. No
man can justly say, that it is a sin of infirmity that he
was drunk: For there are but three causes of every
sin, (a fourth is not imaginable.) 1. If ignorance
cause it, the sin is as full of excuse as the ignorance
was innocent. But no Christian can pretend this to
drunkenness, to murther, to rebellion, to uncleanness.
For what Christian is so uninstructed but that he
knows adultery is a sin ? 2. Want of observation is
the cause of many indiscreet and foolish actions.
Now at this gap many irregularities do enter and es-
cape, because in the whole it is impossible for a man
to be of so present a spirit, as to consider and reflect
upon every word and every thought. But it is, in
this case, in God's laws otherwise than in man's: the
great flies cannot pass through without observation,
little ones do ; and a man cannot be drunk, and never
take notice of it ; or tempt his neighbour's wife before
he be aware : therefore the less the instance is, the
more likely is it to be a sin of infirmity : and yet if
it be never so little, if it be observed, then it ceases
to be a sin of infirmitv. 3. But because orreat crimes
cannot pretend to pass undiscernibly, it foUow^s that
they must come in at the door of malice, that is, of
want of grace, in the absence of the spirit; theydc-

36 OK THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Semi II-

stroy wherever they come, and the man dies if they
pass upon him.

It is true, there is flesh and blood in every regenerate
man, but thcv do not both rule : the flesh is left to
tempt, but not to prevail. And it were a strange
condition, if both the godly and the ungodly were
captives to sin, and infallibly should fall into tempta-
tion and death, without all difference, save only that
the godly sins unwillinglif, and the ungodly sins wil-
linglij' But if the same things be done by both, and
God in both be dishonoured, and their duty prevari-
cated, the pjetended unwillingness is the sign of a
greater and a baser slavery, and of a condition less
to be endured : For the servitude which is against
me IS mtoleiable : but if I choose the state of a ser-
vant, i am free in my mind.

Libertatis servaveris ninbram

Si qnicquid jubeare velis-

Certain it is, that such a person who fain would, but
cannot choose, but commit adultery or drunkenness,
is the veriest slave to sin that can be imagined, and
not at all freed by the spirit, and by the liberty of
the sons of God:t and theie is no other difference,
but that the mistaken good man leels his slavery, and
sees his chains and his fetters ; but therefore it is
certain that he is, because he sees himself to be, a
slave. No man can be a servant of sin, and a ser-
vant of righteousness at the same time; but every
man that hath the snirit of God is a servant of

'* Of Iroedoin still yon will preserve the sliade,
If prompt oboclit^nce be with pleasure paid. A.

t Tot rebus iniquis

Paruimiis victi : venia est hacc sola pudoris,
Dcgencrisqne inetus, nil jam pofiiisse iiegari. Lucan.
Xo ceiisiire wp-nds when vaiiqtiish'd we obey,
Frorii hard JVecessity's iiriperious sway. A.

fienn. II. of the spirit of grace. 3?

righteousness : and therefore whosoever find great
sins to be unavoidable, are in a state of death and
reprobation, (as to the present) because they wil-
hngly or unwilhngly (it matters not much whether of
the two) are servants of sin.

2. Sins of infirmity, as they are small in their in-
stance, so they put on their degree of cxcusableness
only according to the weakness or iniirmity of a
man's understanding. So far as men (without their
own fault) understand not their duty, or are possess-
ed with weakness of principles, or are destitute and
void of discourse, or discerning powers and acts, so
far if a sin creeps upon them, it is as natural, and
as tree from a law, as is the action of a child ; but if
any thing else be mingled with it, if it proceed from
any other principle, it is criminal, and not excused
by our infirmity, because it is chosen ; and a man's
will hath no infirmity, but when it wants the grace
of God, or is mastered Avith passions and siniul ap-
petites : and that infirmity is the state of unregene-
ration.

3. The violence or strength of a temptation is not
sufficient to excuse an action, or to make it accounta-
ble upon the stock of a pitiable and innocent infir-
mity, if it leaves the understanding still able to
judge ; because a temptation cannot have any proper
strengths but from ourselves ; and because we have
in us a principle of baseness which this temptation
meets, and only persuades me to act, because I love
it. Joseph met with a temptation as violent and as
strong as any man ; and it is certain there are not
many Christians but would fall under it, and call it a
sin of injirmity^ since they have been taught so to
abuse themselves, by sewing fig-leaves before their
nakedness: but because Joseph had a strength of
God within him, the strength of chastity, therefore it
could not at all prevail upon him. Some men cannot

38 ov THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Scrm. IL

by any art of hell be tempted to be drunk ; others
can no more resist an invitation to such a meeting,
than they can refuse to die if a dajxger were drunk
with their heart-blood, because their evil habits made
them weak on that part. And some man that is for-
tified against revenge, it may be will certainly fall
under a temptation to uncleanness. For every temp-
tation is irreat or small according; as the man is ; and
a good word will certainly lead some men to an ac-
tion of folly, while another will not think ten thou-
sand pounds a considerable argument to make him
tell one single lie against his duty or his conscience.

4. No habitual sin, that is, no sin that returns con-
stantly or frequently ; that is repented of and com-
mitted again, and still repented of, and then again
committed; no such sin is excusable with a pretence
of infirmity : because that sin is certainly noted, and
certainly condemned, and therefore returns, not be-
cause of the. weakness of nature, but the weakness of
grace: the principle of this is an evil spirit, an ha-
bitual aversation from God, a dominion and empire
of sin. And as no man for his inclinations and apt-
ness to the sins of the flesh is to be called carnal, if
he corrects his inclinations, and turns them into vir-
tues: so no man can be called spiritual for his good
wishes, and apt inclinations to goodness, if these in-
clinations pass not into acts, and these acts into habits,
and holy customs and walkings and conversation with
God. But as natural concupiscence corrected be-
comes the matter of virtue, so these good inclina-
tions, and condemnings of our sin, if they be ineffective
and end in sinful actions, are the perfect signs of a
reprobate and unregenerated state.

The sum is this : an animal man, a man under the
law, a carnal man, (for as to this they are all one) is
sold under sin, he is a servant of corruption, he falls
frequently into the same sin to which he is tempted,

I

Serm. 11. of the spirit of grace. 39

he commends the law, he consents to it that it is
good, he does not commend sin, he docs some httle
thinacs against it; but they are weak and imperfect,
his lust is stronj^er, his passions violent and unmorti-
fied, his habits vicious, his customs sinful, and he lives
in the regions of sin, and dies and enters into its
portion. But a spiritual man, a man that is in a state
of grace, who is born anew of the spirit, that is re-
i^nerate by the spirit of Christ, he is led by the spirit^
le //yc5, in the spirit, he does the works of God cheer-
fully, habitually, vigorously ; and although he some-
times slips, yet it is but seldom, it is in small instan-
ces ; his life is such as he cannot pretend to be justi-
fied by works and merit, but by mercy and the faith
of Jestis Christ ; yet he never sins great sins : if he
does, he is for that present fallen from Goers favour ;
and though possibly he may recover, (and the smaller
or scldomer the sin is, the sooner may be his restitu-
tion) yet for the present (I say) he is out of God's
favour. But he that remains in the grace of God,
sins not by any deliberate, consultive, knowing act:
he is incident to such a surprise as may consist with
the weakness and judgment of a good man; but
whatsoever, is or must be considered, if it cannot
pass without consideration, it cannot pass without
sin, and therefore cannot enter upon him while he
remains in that state. For he that is in Christ, in him
the body is dead by reason of sin. And the gospel did
not differ from the law, but that the gospel gives
grace and strength to do whatsoever it commands ;
which the law did not: and the greatness of the pro-
mise of eternal life is such an argument to them that
consider it, that it must needs be of force sufficient
to persuade a man to use all his faculties and all his
strength that he may obtain it. God exacted all upon
this stock ; God knew this could do every thing :
JYihil non in hoc praesnmpsit Deus, (said one.) This

40 OP THE SPIRIT OF GRACE. Semi. IL

will make a satyr chaste, and Silenus to be sober,
and Dives to be charitable, and Simon Magus him-
self to despise reputation, and Saul to turn from a
persecutor to an apostle. For since God hath given
us reason to choose, and a promise to exchange for
our temperance, and faith, and charity and justice,
for these (I say) happiness, exceeding great happi-
ness ; that we shall be kings, that we shall reign
with God, with Christ, with all the holy angels for ever,
in felicity so great that we have not now capacities
to understand it, our heart is not big enough to think
it; there cannot in the world be a greater inducement
to engage us, a greater argument to oblige us to do
our duty. God hath not in heaven a bigger argu-
ment ; it is not possible any thing in the world should
be bigger. Which because the spirit of God hath
revealed to us, if by this strength of his we walk
in his ways, and be ingrafted into his stock, and bring
forth his fruits, the fruits of the spirit^ then we are in
Christ., and Christ in us, then we walk in the spirit., and
the spirit dwells in us, and our portion shall be there
where Christ by the spirit maketh intercession for us-,
that is, at the right hand of his Father for ever and
ever. Amen.

SERMON III.

THE

DESCENDING AND ENTAILED CURSES CUT OFF.

Exodus xx. part of the 5. verse.

I the Lord tby God am a jpalous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the tiiird and fourth generation of
them that hate me :

6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep
my commandments.

It is not necessary that a commonwealth should
give pensions to orators, to dissuade men from run-
ning into houses infected with the plague, or to en-
treat them to be out of love with violent torments,
or to create in men evil opinions concerning famine
or painful deaths : every man hath a sufficient stock
of self-love, upon the strength of which he hath en-
tertained principles strong enough to secure himself
against voluntary mischiefs and from running into
states of death and violence. A man would think
that this I have now said were in all cases certainly
true ; and 1 would to God it were. For that which
is the greatest evil, that which makes all evils, that
which turns good into evil, and every natural evil into
a greater sorrow and makes that sorrow lasting and
perpetual; that Avhich sharpens the edge of swords,
and makes agues to be fevers, and fevers to turn into
plagues; that which puts stings into every fly, and
uneasiness to every trifling accident, and strings every
whip with scorpions, (you know I must needs mean
VOL. n. 7

42 THE ENTAIL OV CORSES CUT OFF. i^erm. ///•

sin; that evil men suffer patiently, and choose wil-
lingly, and ran after it greedily, and will not suffer
themselves to be divorced from it: and therefore
God hath hired servants to fight against this evil; he
hath set angels with fiery swords to drive us from it,
he hath employed advocates to plead against it, he
hath made laws and decrees against it, he hath dis-
patched prophets to warn us of it, and hath establish-
ed an order of men, men of his own family, and who
are fed at his own charges, (I mean the whole order
of the clergy) whose oflice is like watchmen to give
an alarm at every approach of sin, with as much
affrightment as if an enemy were near, or the sea
broke in upon the flat country ; and all this only to
persuade men not to be extremely miserable, for no-
thing, for vanity, for a trouble, for a disease : for some
sins naturally are diseases, and all others are natural
nothings, mere privations or imperfections, contrary
to goodness, to felicity, to God himself And yet
God hath hedged sin round about with thorns, and
sin of itself too brings thorns ; and it abuses a man
in all his capacities, and it places poison in all those
seats and receptions where he could possibly enter-
tain happiness. For if sin pretend to please the
sense, it doth first abuse it shamefully, and then hu-
mours it: it can only feed an imposture; no natural,
reasonable, and perfective appetite : and besides its
own essential appendages and proprieties, things are
so ordered, that a fire is kindled round about us,
and every thing within us, above, below us, and on
every side of us, is an argument against, and an ene-
my to sin ; and for its single pretence, that it comes
to please one of the senses, one of those faculties
which are in us the same they are in a cow, it hath
an evil so communicative, that it doth not only work
like poison, to the dissolution of soul and body, but
it is a sickness like the plague, it infects all our

Serm. III. the entail of curses cut off. 43

houses, and corrupts the air and tlie very breath of

heaven: for it moves God first to jealousy, (and that

takes off his friendship and kindness towards us,)

and then to ansrer ; and that makes him a resolvedi

• • •

enemy ; and it bnn^s evd, not only upon ourselves,

but upon all our relatives, upon ourselves and our
children, even the children of our nephews, ad natos
natorum<f€t qui nascentur ab illis, to the third and fourth
generation. And therefore if a man should despise
the eye or sword of man, if he sins, he is to contest
with the jealousy of a provoked God : if he doth not
regard himself, let him pity his pretty children : if he
be angry and hates all that he sees, and is not soli-
citous for his children, yet let him pity the genera-
tions which are yet unborn; let him not bring a
curse upon his whole family, and suffer his name to
rot in curses and dishonours; let not his memory re-
main polluted with an eternal stain. If all this will
not deter a man from sin, there is no instrument left
for that man's virtue, no hopes of his felicity, no
recovery of his sorrows and sicknesses ; but he must
sink under the strokes of a jealous God into the dis-
honour of eternal ages, and the groanings of a never-
ceasing sorrow.

God is a jealous God.^ That is the first and great
stroke he strikes against sin ; he speaks after the
manner of men ; and in so speaking we know he that
is jealous, is suspicious, he is inquisitive, he is implaca-
ble. 1. God is pleased to represent himself a per-
son very suspicious, both in respect of persons and
things. For our persons we give him cause enough :
for we are sinners from our mother's womb : we
make solemn vows, and break them instantly ; we
cry for pardon, and still renew the sin ; we desire
God to try us once more, and we provoke him ten
times farther; we use the means of grace to cure
us, and we turn them into vices and opportunities of

44 THE ENTAIL OF CtTRSES GUT OFF. Serm. III.

sin; we curse our sins, and yet long for them ex-
tremely ; we renounce them publicly, and yet send
for them in private and shew them kindness; we
leave little otfences, but our faith and our charity ia
not strong enough to master great ones; and some-
times we aje ashamed out of great ones, but yet en-
tertain little ones; or if we disclaim both, yet we
love to remember them, and delight in their past ac-
tions, and bring them home to us, at least by fiction
of imagination, and we love to be betrayed into them :
we would fain have things so ordered by chance or
power, that it may seem necessary to sin, or that it
may become excusable, and dressed fitly for our own
circumstances ; and for ever we long after the flesh-
pots o{ Egypt, the garlick and the onions : and we do
so little esteem manna, the food of angels, we so
loath the bread of heaven, that any temptation will
make us return to our fetters and our bondage. And
if we do not tempt ourselves, yet we do not resist a
temptation ; or if we pray against it, we desire not
to be heard ; and if we be assisted, yet we will not
work together with those assistances; so that unless
we be forced, nothing will be done. We are so wil-
ling to perish, and so unwilling to be saved, that we
minister to God reason enough to suspect us, and
therefore it is no wonder that God is jealous of us.
We keep company with harlots and polluted persons;
we are kind to all God's enemies, and love that
which he hates: how can it be otherwise but that we
should be suspected ? Let us make our best of it,
and see if we can recover the good opinion of God ;
for as yet we are but suspected persons. 2. And
therefore God is inqinsilive ; he looks for that which
he fain would never find: God sets spies upon us;
he looks upon us himself through the curtains
of a cloud, and he sends angels to espy us in all
our ways, and permits the devil to winnow us and

Berm. III. the entail of curses cut off. Ab

to accuse us, and erects a tribunal and witnesses in
our own consciences, and he cannot want infoioia-
tion concernins: our smallest irregularities. Some-
times the devil accuses: but he sometunes accuses us
falsely, either maliciously, or ignorantly, and we
stand upright in that particular by innocence ; and
sometimes by penitence ; and all this while our con-
science is our friend. Sometimes our conscience
does accuse us unto God : and then we stand con-
victed by our own judgment. Sometimes, if our
conscience acquit us, yet tve are not thereby jus-
tijied : for, as Moses accused the Jeics.^ so do Christ
and his apostles accuse us, not in their persons,
but by their works and by their words, by the
thing itself, by confronting the laws of Christ, and
our practices. Sometimes the angels, who are the
observers of all our works, carry up sad tidings to
the court of heaven against us. Thus two angels
were the informers against Sodom : but yet these were
the last ; for before that time the cry of their iniquity
had sounded loud and sadly in heaven. And all
this is the direct and proper effect of his jealousy,
"which sets spies upon all the actions, and watches
the circumstances, and tells the steps and attends the
business, the recreations, the publications and retire-
ments of every man, and will not suffer a thought to
wander, but he uses means to correct its errour, and
to reduce it to himself For he that created us, and
daily feeds us, he that entreats us to be happy, with
an importunity so passionate as if not we, but him-
self, were to receive the favour; he that would part
with his only Son from his bosom, and the embraces
of eternity, and give him over to a shameful and
cursed death for us, cannot but be supposed to love
us with a great love, and to own us with an entire
title, and therefore that he would fain secure us to
himself with an undivided passion. And it cannot
but be infinitely reasonable : for to whom else should

v^p^!;!

46 THE ENTAIL OF cuKaEs CUT OFF. Semi. III.

any of us belong but to God? Did the world create
us ? or did lust ever do us any good ? Did Satan
ever suffer one stripe for our advantage ? Does not
he study all the ways to ruin us ? Do the sun or the
stars preserve us alive ? or do we get understanding
from the angels? Did ever any joint of our body
knit, or our heart ever keep one true minute of a
pulse without God ? Had not we been either nothing,
or worse, that is. Infinitely, eternally miserable, but
that God made us capable, and then pursued us with
arts and devices of great mercy to force us to be
happy ? Great reason therefore there is that God
should be jealous lest we take any of our duty from
him, who hath so strangely deserved it all, and give
it to a creature, or to our enemy, who cannot be ca-
e of any. But, however, it will concern us
with much caution to observe our own ways, since
2ve are made a spectacle to God, to angels, and to men.
God hath set so many spies upon us, the blessed an-
gels and the accursed devils, good men and bad men,
the eye of heaven, and eye of that eye, God himself,
all watching lest we rob God of his honour, and
ourselves of our hopes. For by this prime intention
he hath chosen so to get his own glory, as may best
consist with our felicity : his great design is to be
glorified in our being saved. 3. God's jealousy hath
a sadder effect than all this. For all this is for
mercy; but if we provoke this jealousy, if he finds
us in our spiritual whoredoms, he is implacable., that
is, he is angry with us to eternity, unless we return
in time : and if we do, it may be he will not be ap-
peased in all instances ; and when he forgives us, he
will make some reserves of his wrath; he will punish
our persons or our estate, he will chastise us at
home or abroad, in our bodies or in our children ; for
he will visit our sins upon our children from genera-
tion to generation : and if they be made miserable

Ser}n. III. the entail of curses cut off. \7

for our sins, thej are unhappy in such parents; but
we bear the curse and the anger of God, even while
tliey bear his rod. God visits the sitis of ike fathers upon
the children. That is the second great stroke he
strikes against sin, and is now to be considered.

That God doth so is certain, because he saith he
doth : and that this is just in him so to do, is also as
certain therefore because he doth it. For as his laws
are our measures, so his actions and his own will are
his own measures. He that hath right over all things,
and all persons, cannot do wrong to any thing. He
that is essentially just, (and there could be no such
thing as justice, or justice itself could not be good, if
it did not derive from him) it is impossible for him to
be unjust. But since God is pleased to speak after
the manner of men, it may well consist with our duty
to inquire into those manners of consideration where-
by we may understand the equity of God in this
proceeding, and to be instructed also in our own dan-
ger if Ave persevere in sin.

1. No man is made a sinner by the fault of another
man without his own consent: for to every one God
gives his choice, and sets life and deathbefore every of
the sons of Adam ; and therefore this death is not a
consequent to any sin, but our own. In this sense it
is true, that if the fathers eat sour grapes^ the children's
teeth shall not be set on edge : and therefore the sin of
Adam., which was derived to all the world, did not
bring the world to any other death but temporal, by
intermedial stages of sickness and temporal infelicities.
And it is not said that sin passed upon all men, but death;
and that also no otherAvise but i<p tf ^ravrsc >;^s<gTov, m as much
as all men have sinned; as they have followed the steps
of their father, so they are partakers of this death.
And therefore it is very remarkable, that death brought
in by sin was nothing superinduced to man ; man only
was reduced to his own natural condition, from which

48 THE ENTAIL OK CURSES CUT OFF. iSVrm. ///.

before Adani's fall he stood exempted by supernatu-
ral favour: and therefore although the taking away
that extraordinary grace or privilege was a punish-
ment ; yet the suffering the natural death was direct-
ly none, but a condition of his creation, natural, and
therefore not primarily evil ; but if not good, yet at
least indifferent. And the truth and purpose of this
observation will extend itself, if we observe, that
before any man died, Christ was promised, by whom
death was to lose its sting, by whom death did cease
to be an evil, and was, or might be, if we do belong
to Christ, a state of advantage. So that we by occa-
sion of Adamh sin, being returned to our natural
certainty of dying, do still even in this very particu-
lar stand between the blessing and the cursing. If
we follow Christ, death is our friend : If we imitate
the prevarication of Adam^ then death becomes an
evil; the condition of our nature becomes the punish-
ment ofo?/r own sin, not o[ Jldam's. For although
his sin brought death in, yet it is only our sin that
makes death to be evil. And I desire this to be ob-
served, because it is of great use in vindicating the
Divine justice in the matter of this question. The
material part of the evil came from our father upon
us ; but the formality of it, the sting and the curse, is
only by ourselves.

2. For the fault of others many may become mi-
serable, even all or any of those whose relation is
such to the sinner, that he in any sense may by such
inflictions be punished, execrable or oppressed. In-
deed it were strange, if when a plague were in
Aethiopia, the Athenians should be infected ; or if the
house o( Pericles were visited, Thucydides should die
for it. For although there are some evils which (as
Plutarch saith) are ansis et propa^ttionibus praedita,
incredibili celeritate in lonirinrpmni penctrantia, such
which can dart evil influences, as porcupines do their

\

Serm. III. the entail of curses cut off. 49

quills: yet as at so great distances the knowledge of
any confederate events must needs be unceitain ; so
it is also useless, because we neitlier can join their
causes, nor their circumstances, nor their accidents
into any neighbourhood of conjunction. Relations are
seldom noted at such distances ; and if they were,
it is certain so many accidents will intervene, that
will outweigh the efficacy of such relations, that by
any so far distant events we cannot be instructed in
any duty, nor understand ourselves reproved for any
fault. But when the relation is nearer, and is joined
under such a head and common cause, that the influ-
ence is perceived, and the parts of it do usually com-
municate in benefit, notices, or infelicity, (especially
if they relate to each other as superiour and inferiour)
then it is certain the sin is infectious I mean not
only in example, but also in punishment.

And of this I shall shew. 1. In what instances
usually it is so. 2. For what reasons it is so, and
justly so. 3. In what degree, and in what cases it
is so. 4. What remedies there are for this evil.

1. It is so in kingdoms, in churches, in families, in
political, artificial, and even in accidental societies.

When David numbered the people, God was an-
gry with him ; but he punished the people for the
crime ; seventy thousand men died of the plague.
And when God gave to David the choice of three
plagues, he chose that of the pestilence, in which
the meanest of the people, and such which have the
least society with the acts and crimes of kings, are
most commonly devoured ; whilst the powerful and
sinning persons, by arts of physick, and flight, by pro-
visions of nature, and accidents, are more commonly
secured. But the story of the kings of Israel hath
furnished us with an example fitted with all the stran-
ger circumstances in this question. Joshua had sworn

VOL. II, 8

BO THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. Ill,

to the Gibeonites (who had craftily secured their hves
by exchanging it for their hberties :) almost five hun-
dred years after, Saul^ in zeal to the men of Israel
and Jndah, slew many of them. After this, »Saw/ dies,
and no question was made of it. But in the days of
David., there was a famine in the land three years
together; and God being inquired of, said, it was
because of Saul his killing the Gibeonites.'^ What
had the people to do with their king's fault? or, at
least, the people of David with the fault of Saul?
Th^t we shall see anon. But see the way that was
appointed to expiate the crime and the calamity. Da-
vid took seven of Saul's sons, and hanged them up
against the sun ; and after that God was intreatecl
for the land. The story observes one circumstance
more : that for the kindness o( Jonathan^ David spar-
ed MepliiboJicth. Now this story doth not only in-
stance in kingdoms, but in families too. The father's
fault is punished upon the sons of the family, and
the king's fault upon the people of his land ; even
after the death of the kln<j, after the death of the
father. Thus God visited the s\n o{ ^^hab partly up-
on himself, partly upon his sons. / ivill not bring the
evil in his days., but in his son'^s days will 1 bring the evil
upon his house.'f Thus did God slay the child of
Bathsheba for the sin of his father David: and the
whole family of Eli., all his kindred of the nearer
lines, were thrust from the priesthood, and a curse
made lo descend upon his children for many ages,
that all the males should die young., and in the flower of
their youth. The boldness and impiety of Cham
made his posterity to be accursed, and brought slave-
ry into the world. Because Jlmalek fought with the
sons of Israel at Rephidim., God took up a quarrel
against the nation for ever. And above all examples

* 2 Sain. xxi. 1. j I Kings xxi. 29.

Serm. III. the kntail of curses cut off. 51

is that of the Jeia, who j)ut to death the LordofUfc^
and made their nation to be an anathema forever, un-
til the day of restitution : His blood be upon us., and
upon our children. If we shed innocent blood, if we
provoke God to Vv'rath, if we oppress the poor, if we
crucify the Lord of life again, and put him to an open
shame, the wrath of God will be upon us and upon
our children, to make us a cursed family; and we
are the sinners, to be the stock and original of the
curse; the pedigree of the misery shall derive from
us.

This last instance went farther than the other of
families and kingdoms. For not only the single fami-
lies of the Jews were made miserable for their
fathers' murthering the Lord of life, nor also was
the nation alone extinguished for the sins of their ru-
lers, but the religion was removed ; it ceased to be
God's people; the synagogue was rejected, and her
veil rent, and her privacies dismantled, and the Gen-
tiles were made to be God's people, wiien the Jews''
inclosure was disparked. 1 need not farther to instance
this proposition in the case of national churches ;
though it is a sad calamity that is fallen upon all the
seven churches o{ Asia., (to whom the spirit of God
wrote seven epistles by Saint John) and almost all
the churclies oi Africa., where Christ was w^orshipped,
and now Mahomet is thrust in substitution, and the
people are servants, and the religion is extinguished,
or where it remains it shines like the moon in an
eclipse, or like the least spark of the Pleiades., seen
but seldom, and that rather shining like a glow-worm
than a taper enkindled with a beam of the sun of
righteousness. I shall add no more instances to verify
the truth of this, save only I shall observe to you,
that even there is danger in being in evil company,
in suspected places, in the civil societies and fellow-
ship of wicked men»

52 THE ENTAIL OB' CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. IlL

Vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum

Vulgarit arcanae, sub iisdein

Sit trabibus, fiagilemque mecum
Solvat phaselum. Saepe Diespiter
Neglectus, incesto addidit iutegrura.*

And It happened to the mariners who carried Jonah^
to be in danirer with a horrid storm, because Jonah
was there who had sinned against the Lord. Many
times the sin of one man is punished bj the faUing of
a houheora wall upon him, and then all the family are
like to be crushed with the same ruin : so danger-
ous, so pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin, that it
scatters the poison of its breath to all the neighbour-
hood, and makes that the man ought to be avoided
like a person infected with the plague.

Next I am to consider, Why this is so, and why it
is justly so. To this I answer, 1. Between kings and
their people, parents and their children, there is so
great a necessitude, propriety, and intercourse of
nature, dominion, right and possession, that they are
by God and the laws of nations reckoned as their
goods and their blessings. The honour of a king is in
the mnltitude of his people ; and, children are a gift that
Cometh of the Lord, and, happy is that man that hath his
quiver full of them : and, L,o thus shall the man be bless^
ed that feareth the Lord; his wife shall be like the fruit-
ful vine by the walls of his house, his children like olive-
branches round about his table. Now if children be a
Iblessing, then to take them away in anger, is a curse :

* Hor. Lib. III. Od. ii.26.
To silence due rewards we give.

And they, who mysteries reveal,
Beneath my roof shall never live,

Shall never hoist with rae the doubtful sail.
When Jove in anger striices the blow,

Oft with the bad the righteous bleed, Francis.

Serm. III. the entail of curses cut off. 53

and if the loss of flocks and herds, the burning of
houses, the blasting of fields be a cuise: how much
greater is it to lose our cliildrcn, and to see God slay
them before our eyes, in hatred to our persons, and
detestation and loathing of our baseness? When
Job^s messengers told him the sad stories ol' fire fiorn
heaven, the burning his sheep, and that the Sabcans
had driven his oxen away, and the Chuldeans had sto-
len his camels; these were sad arrests to his troubled
spirit: but it was reserved as the last blow ol that
sad execution, that the ruins of a house had crushed
his sons and daughters to their graves. Sons and
daughters are greater blessings than sheep and oxen :
they are not servants of profit, as sheep are, but they
secure greater ends of blessing; they preserve your
names; they are so many titles of piovision and pro-
vidence ; every new child is anew title of God's care
of that family ; they serve the ends of honour, of
commonwealths and kingdoms ; they are images of
our souls, and images of God, and therefore are
great blessings ; and by consequence, they are great
riches, though they are not to be sold for money : and
surely he that hath a cabinet of invaluable jewels,
will think himself rich, though he never sells them.
Docs God take care for oxen ? (said our blessed Sa-
viour) much more for you : yea all and every one of
your children are of more value than many oxen.
When therefore God for your sins strikes them with
crookedness, with deformity, with foolishness, with
impertinent and caitive spirits, with hasty or sudden
deaths; it is a greater curse to you than to lose
w^hole herds of cattle, of which (it is certain) most
men would be very sensible. They are our goods ;
they are our blessings from God ; therefore we are
stricken when for our sakes they die. Therefore we
may properly be punished by evils happening to our
relatives.

54 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. SVrWl. ///•

2. But as this is a punishment to us^ so it is not un-
just as to them, though they be innocent. For all the
calamities of this hte are incident to the most godly
persons in the world : and since the King of heaven
and earth was made a man of sorrows, it cannot be
called unjust or intolerable that innocent persons
should be pressed with temporal infelicities; only in
such cases we must distinguish the misery from the
punishment ; for that all the world dies is a punish-
ment o{ Adam''s sin; but it is no evil to those single
persons that die in the Lord, for they are blessed in
their death. Jonathan was killed the same day with
his father the king ; and this was a punishment to
Said indeed, but to Jonathan it was a blessing ; for
since God had appointed the kingdom to his neigh-
bour, it was more honourable for him to die fighting
the Lord's battle, than to live and see himself the
lasting testimony of God's curse upon his father, who
lost the kingdom from his family by his disobedience.
That death is a blessing which ends an honourable,
and prevents an inglorious life. And our children,
(it may be) shall be sanctified by a sorrow, and puri-
fied by the fire of affliction, and they shall receive
the blessing of it ; but it is to their fathers a curse,
who shall wound their own hearts with sorrow, and
cover their heads with a robe of shame, for bringing
so great evil upon their house. 3. God hath many
ends of providence to serve in this dispensation of
his judgments. I. He expresses the highest indig-
nation against sin, and makes his examples lasting,
com:nunicative, and of great effect; it is a little image
of iiell ; and we shall the less wonder that God with
the pains of eternity punishes the sins of time, when
with our eyes we see him punish a transient action
with a lasting judgment. 2. It arrests the spirits of
men, and surprises their loosenesses, and restrains
their gayety, when we observe that the judgments of

Serin. III. the entail ov curses cut OFf. 55

God find us out in all relations, and turn our cora-
forts into sadness, and make our families the scene
oi sot rows, and we can escape him no where : and
by sin are made obnoxious, not alone to personal
judii;nients, but are made like the fountains of the
D. ad Sea, springs of the lake of Sodom ; instead of
reiVeshin^ our families with blessini^s, we leave them
bi'mstone, and drought, and poison, and an evd name,
and tiie wrath of God, and a treasure of wrath, and
their father's sins, for their portion and inheritance.
Naturalists say, that when the leading goats in the
G/(?(?/: islands have taken an eryngvs or sea holly, into
their mouths, all the herd will stand still, till the
herdsman comes and forces it out, as apprehending
the evil that will come to them all, if any of them,
especially their principals, taste an unwholesome
plant. And indeed it is of a general concernment,
that the master of a family, or the prince of a people,
from whom as from a fountain many issues do derive
upon their relatives, should be springs of health, and
sanctity, and blessing. It is a great right and pro-
priety that a king hath in his people, or a father in
his children, that even their sins can do these a mis-
chief not only by a direct violence, but by the exe-
cution of God's wrath. God hath made strange
bands and vessels, or channels of communication be-
tween them, when even the anger of God shall be
conveyed by the conduits of such relations. That
would be considered. It binds them nearer than our
new doctrine will endure. But it also binds us to
pray for them, and for their holiness, and good govern-
ment, as earnestly as he would to be delivered from
death, or sickness, or poverty, or war, or the wrath
of God in any instance. 3. This also will satisfy the
fearfulness of such persons who think the evil prospe-
rous, and call the proud happy. No man can be called
happy till be be dead ; nor then neither, if he lived

56 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. ScrTll. IlL

viciously. Look how Cod handles him in his chil-
dren, in his familj, in his grand-children : and as it
tells that generation which sees the judgment, that
God was all the while angry with him ; so it supports
the spirits of men in the interval, and entertains them
with the expectation of a certain hope: for if 1 do
not live to see his sin punished, yet his posterity may
find themselves accursed, and feel their fathers sins
in their own calamity ; and the expectation or be-
lief of that may relieve my oppression, and ease my
sorrov.^s, while I know that God will bear my injury
in a lasting record, and, when I have forgot it, will
bring it forth to judgment. The Athenians were
highly pleased when they saw honours done to the
posterity of Cimon, a good man, and a rare citizen,
but murdered for being wise and virtuous: and
when at the same time they saw a decree of banish-
ment pass against the children oiLacharis and »/4m^o
they laid their hands upon their mouths, and with
silence did admire the justice of the power above.

The sum of this is ; That in sending evils upon
the posterity of evil men, God serves many ends of
providence, some of wisdom, some of mercy, some of
justice, and contradicts none. For the evil of the
innocent son is the father's punishment upon the
stock of his sin, and his relation ; but the sad acci-
dent happens to the son, upon the score of nature,
and many ends of providence and mercy. To which
I add, that if any, even the greatest temporal evil
may fall upon a man, as blindness did upon the
blind man in the gospel when neither he nor his pa-
rents have sinned; much more may it do so when his
parents have, though he have not. For theie is a
nearer or more visible commensuration of justice be-
tween the parent's sin and the son's sickness, than
between the evil of the son and the innocence of
father and son together. The dispensation there-
fore is rigliteous and severe.

Serm. III. the entail op curses cut off. 5?*

3. I am now to consider in what degree and in
what cases this is usual, or to be expected. It is in
the text instanced in the matter of worshipping ima-
ges. God is so jealous of his honour, that he will
not sulFer an image of himself to be made, lest the
image dishonour the substance; nor any image of a
creature to be worshipped, though with a less ho-
nour, lest that less swell up into a greater. And he
that is thus jealous of his honour, and therefore so
instances it, is also very curious of it in all other
particulars : and though to punish the sins of fathers
upon the children be more solemnly threatened in
this sin only, yet we hnd it inflicted indifferently
in any other great sin, as appears in the former pre-
cedents.

This one thing I desire to be strictly observed ;
That it is with much errour and great indiligcnce
usually taught in this question, that the wrath of God
descends from fathers to children only in case the
children imitate and write after their father's copy ;
supposing these \NOvds [of them that hate me] to re-
late to the children. But this is expressly against
the words of the text, and the examples of the thing.
God afflicts good children of evil parents for their
fathers sins ; and the words are plain and determi-
nate, God visits the sins of the fathers in tertiam et
quartam generationem eorum qui oderunt tne^ to the
third generation of them^ of those fathers that hate
me ; that is, upon the great-grand-children of such
parents. So that if the great-grand-fathers be ha-
ters of God and lovers of iniquity, it may entail a
curse upon so many generations, though the children
be haters of their fathers hatred, and lovers of God.
And this hath been observed even by wise men
among the heathens, whose stories tell, that Jlntigo-
nus was punished for the tyranny of his father De-
metrius., Phyleus {or his fdiihev j'lugeas, pious and wise

VOL. II. 9

58 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. IJL

JVestor for his father JVcleus : And it was so in the
case of Jonathan^ Avho lost the kingdom and his hfc
upon the stock of his father's sins ; and the innocent
child of David was slain by the anger of God, not
against the child, who never had deserved it, but
the father's adultery. I need not here repeat what
I said in vindication of the Divine justice ; but I ob-
served this, to represent the danger of a sinning
father or mother, when it shall so inlect the family
with curses, that it shall ruin a wise and an innocent
son; and that virtue and innocence, which shall by
God be accepted as sufficient through the Divine
mercy to bring the son to heaven, yet it may be
shall not be accepted to quit him fiom feeling the
curse of his father's crime in a load of temporal in-
felicities : and who but a villain would ruin and undo
a wise, a virtuous, and his own son ? But so it is in
all the world. A traitor is condemned to suffer
death himself, and his posterity are made beggars
and dishonourable : his escutcheon is reversed, his
arms of honour are extinguished, the nobleness of his
ancestors is forgotten : but his own sin is not, while
men, by the characters of infamy, are taught to call
that family accursed which had so base a father.
Tiresias was esteemed unfortunate, because he could
not see his friends and children : the poor man was
blind with age. But jlthrimas and ^^gave were more
miserable, who did see their children, but took them
for lions and stags : the parents were miserably fran-
tick. But of all they deplored the misery of //ercw/c^,
who, when he saw his children, took them for ene-
mies, and endeavoured to destroy them. And this
is the case of all vicious parents. That a mmi's ene-
mies were they of his own house^ was accounted a
great calamity: but it is worse, when we love them
tenderly and fondly, and yet do them all the despite
we wish to enemies. But so it is, that in many cases

Serm. III. the entail of curses cut off. 59

we do more mischief to our cliilclren, than if we
should strarii^le them when thcj are newly taken
from their mother's knees, or tear them in pieces as
J\Iedca did her brother t/lbsyrfus. For to leave them
to inherit a curse, to leave them to an entailed ca-
lamity, a misery, a disease, the wrath of God for an
inheritance, that it may descend upon them, and re-
mark the family like their coat of arms ; is to be the
parent of evil, the ruin of our family, the causes of
mischief to them who ought to be Clearer to us than
our own eyes. And let us remember this when we
are tempted to provoke the jealous God ; let us
consider, that his anger hath a progeny, and a de-
scending line, and it may break out in the days of
our nepliews. A Greek woman was accused of adul-
tery, because she brought forth a blackmoor ; and
could not acquit herself, till she had proved that
she had descended in the fourth degree from an
Jlethiopian : Her great-grand-father was a moor.
And if naturalists say true, that nephews are very
often liker to their grand-fathers than to their
fathers; we see that the semblance of our souls and the
character of the person is conveyed by secret and
undiscernible conveyances. Natural production con-
veys original sin ; and therefore, by the channels of
the body, it is not strange that men convey an here-
ditary sin. And lustful sons are usually born to
satyrs; and monsters of intemperance to drunkards:
and there are also hereditary diseases ; wliich if in
the fathers they were eilects of their sin, as it is in
many cases, it is notorious, that the father's sin is
punished, and the punishment conveyed by natural
instruments. So that it cannot be a wonder, but it
ourjht to be a hiisce affri<»:htment from a state of sin :
if a man can be capable of so much charity as to love
himself in his own person, or in the images of liis
nature, and heirs of his fortunes, and the supports o{

60 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Sevm. IV.

his family, in the children that God hath given him.
Consider therefore, that you do not only act your own
tragedies when you sin, but you represent and effect
the fortune of your children, you slay them with your
own barbarous and inhuman hands. Only be pleas-
ed to compare the variety of estates, of your own
and your children. If they on earth be miserable
many times for their father's sins, how great a state
of misery is that in hell which they suffer for their
own ? And how vile a person is that father or mother,
who for a little money, or to please a lust, will be a
parricide, and imbrue his hands in the blood of hia
own children.

SERMON IV.

PART II.

4. I AM to consider, what remedies there are for
sons to cut off this entail of curses ; and whether, and
by what means it is possible for sons to prevent the
being punished for their father's sins. And since
this thing is so perplexed and intricate, hath so easy
an objection, and so hard an answ^er, looks so like
a cruelty, and so unlike a justice, (though it be
infinitely just, and very severe, and a huge enemy to
sin ;) it cannot be thought but that there are not
only ways left to reconcile God's proceeding to the
strict rules of justice, but also the condition of man
to the possibilities of God's usual mercies. One said
of old, Ex tarditate si DH sontcs praetercant, et inson-
tes plectanl^ justitiam suam non sic rede resarcitmt :
If God be so slow to punish the guilty, that the
punishment be deferred till the death of the guilty
person; and that God shall be forced to punish the
innocent, or to let the sin quite escape unpunished ;

Serm. IV. the entail op curses cut off. 61

it will be something hard to join that justice with
mercy, or to join that action with justice. Indeed it
will seem strange, but the reason ol its justice I have
already discoursed : if now we can find how to re-
concile this to Gods mercy too, or can learn how it
may be turned into a mercy, we need to take no
other care, but that for our own particular we take
heed we never tempt God's anger upon our families,
and that by competent and apt instruments we endea-
vour to cancel the decree, if it be gone out against our
families ; for then we make use of that severity Avhich
God intended ; and ourselves shall be refreshed in the
shades, and by the cooling brooks of the Divine
mercy, even then when we see the wrath of God
breaking out upon the families round about us.

First, the first means to cut off the entail of wrath
and cursings from a fafiiily is, for the sons to disavow
those signal actions of impiety in which their fathers
were deeply guilty, and by which they stained great
parts of their life, or have done something of very
great unworthlness and disreputation. Si quis pa-
terni villi nascitur haeres^ nascitur et poenae : The
heir of his father's wickedness, is the heir of his
father's curse. And a son comes to inherit a wick-
edness from his father, three ways.

1. By approving, or any ways consenting to his
father's sin : as by speaking of it without regret or
shame ; by pleasing himself in the story ; or by
having an evil mind, apt to counsel or do the like, if
the same circumstances should occur. For a son
may contract a sin, not only by derivation and the
contagion of example, but by approbation; not only
by a corporal, but by a virtual contact: not only by
transcribing an evil copy, but by commending it :
and a man may have animum hprosvm in cute mvnda^
a leprous and a polluted mind even for nothing, even
for an empty and Innetfective lust. An evil mind
may contract the curse of an evil action. And though

62 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Semi. IV.

the son of a covetous father prove a prodigal ; yet if
he loves his father's vice for ministering to his vani-
ty, he is disposed not only to a judgment for his own
prodigality, but also to the curse of his father's
avarice.

2. The son may inherit the father's wickedness
by imitation and threct practice ; and then the curse
is like to come to purpose ; a curse by accumulation,
a treasure of wrath : and then the children, as they
arrive to the height of wickedness by a speedy
passage, as being thrust forward by an active exam-
ple, by countenance, by education, by a seldom re-
straint, by a remiss discipline; so they ascertain a
curse to the family, by being a perverse generation,
a iamily set up in op])osition agamst God, by con-
tinuing and increasing the provocation.

3. Sons inherit then' fathers crimes by receiving
and enjoying the purchases of their rapine, injustice
and oppression, by rising upon the ruin of their
fathers souls, by sitting warm in the furs which their
fathers stole, and walking in the grounds which are
watered with the tears of oppressed orphans and
widows. Now in all these cases the rule holds. If
fhc son inherits the sin, he cannot call it wijjist., if he
inherits also his father'^s punishment. But to rescind
the fatal chain, and break in sunder the line of God's
anger, a son is tied in all these cases to disavow his
father's crime. But because the cases are several,
he must also in several manners do it.

1. ]{lvery man is bound not to gloiy in or speak
honour of the powerful and imjust actions of his
ancestors : but as all tiie sons o{ .hlam are bound to
be ashamed of that original stain which they derived
from the loins of their abused father, they must be
humbled in it, they must deplore it as an evil mother,
and a troublesome daughter; so must children ac-
count it amongst the crosses of their Iamily, and the
stains of their honour, that they passed through so

Senn. IV. the entail of curses cut off. 63

impure cliannels, that in the sense of morality as well
as nature, they can say to corruption^ thou art my fa-
ther^ and to rottenness^ thou art mij mother. I do not
say that sons are bound to publish or declaim against
their father's crimes, and to speak of their shame in
piazzas and before tribunals ; that indeed were a
sure way to bring their father's sins upon their own
heads, bv their own faults. No: like Shcm and J a-
phet^ they must go backward, and cast a veil upon
their nakedness and shame, lest they bring the curse
of their father's angry dishonour upon their own
impious and unrelenting heads. JS^oah^s drunkenness
fell upon Hani's head, because he did not hide the
openness of his father's follies : he made his father
ridiculous ; but did not endeavour either to amend
the sin, or to wrap the dishonour In a pious covering.
He that goes to disavow his father's sin by publishing
his shame, hides an ill face wath a more ugly vizor,
and endeavours by torches and fantastick lights to
quench the burning of that house which his father
set on fire : these fires arc to be smothered, and so
extinguished. I deny not, but it may become the
piety of a child to tell a sad story, to mourn, and
represent a real grief for so great a misery, as is a
wicked father or mother : but this is to be done
with a tenderness as nice as we would dress an eye
withal; it must be only with desig[)s of charity, of
counsel, of ease, and with much prudence, and a sad
spirit. These things being secured, that which in
this case remains is, that with all intercourses be-
tween God and ourselves we disavow the crime.

Cliildren are bound to praj- to God to sanctify,
to cure, to forgive tiielr parents: and even concern-
ing the sins of our fore-fathers the church hath
taught us in her litanies, to pray that God would
be pleased to forgive them, so that ncilher we nor
they may sink under the wrath of God for them.

(14 THfi ENTAIL OP CtJRSES CUT OFF. Serm. tVc

[Remember not. Lord, our offences, nor the offences
of our fore-fathers, neither take thou vengeance of our
sins:] Owr^- in common and conjunction. And David
confessed to God, and humbled himself for the sins
of his ancestors and decessors : Our fathers have
done amiss, and dealt ivickedly, neither kept they thy
great goodness in remembrance, but were disobedient at
the sea, even at the Red Sea. So did good king Jo-
siah. Great is the lorath of the Lord which is kindled
against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto
the ivords of this book.* But this is to be done be-
tween God and ourselves : or if in pubhck, then to be
done by general accusation ; that God only may read
our particular sorrows in the single shame of our
families registered in our hearts, and represented to
him with humiliation, shame, and a hearty prayer.

2. Those curses, which descend from the fathers
to the children, by imitation of the crimes of their
progenitors, are to be cut off by special and perso-
nal repentance and prayer, as being a state directly
opposite to that which procured the curse : and if
the sons be pious, or return to an early and severe
course of holy living, they are to be remedied as
other innocent and pious persons are, who are
sufferers under the burthens of their relatives, whom
I shall consider by and by. Only observe this ; that
no publick or imaginative disavowings, no ceremonial
and pompous rescision of our fathers crimes, can
be sufficient to interrupt the succession of the
curse, if the children do secretly practise or ap-
prove what they in pretence or ceremony disavow.
And this is clearly proved, (and it will help to
explicate that difficult saying of our blessed Sa-
viour,) Wo unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of
the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly
ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your
fathers : for they killed them, and ye build their sepnl-

* 2 Kinss xxii. l^-

Serm. IV. the entail of curses cut off. 6i»

chrcs ;* that is, the Pharisees were huge hypocrites,
and adorned the aionurnents of the iriartjr-piophets,
and in words disclaimed their fathers sin, but in deeds
and design they approved it. 1. Because they se-
cretly wished all such persons dead ; volebant mortvos
quos nollcnl svpcrstites. In charity to themselves some
men wish their enemies in heaven, and would be at
charges for a monument for them, that their mahce»
and their power, and their bones might rest in the
same grave ; and yet that wish and that expense is
no testimony of their charity, but of their anger.
2. These men were willing- that the monuments of
those prophets should remain, and be a visible aifright-
nient to all such bold persons and severe reprehenders
as they were; and therefore they builded their sepul-
chres, to be as beacons and publications of danger to
all honest preachers. And this was the account Saint
Chrysostoin gave of the place. 3. To which also the
circumstances of the place concur. For they only
saiil^ If theif had lived in their fathers days they would
not have done as they did ;'f but it is certain they ap-
proved it, because they pursued the same courses :
and therefore our blessed Saviour calls them >««*/
ai-cuiiiyova-xy, not Only tlic childrcu of them that did
kill the prophets, but a killing generation ; the sin
also descends upon you, for ye have the same killing
mind : and although you honour them that are dead,
and cannot shame you ; yet you design the same
usages against them that are alive, even against the
Lord of the proj)hets, against Christ himself, whom
ye will kill. And as Dion said o( Caracalla^ ^^o-i rois

ttyoiBoK ttvJ'^dLe-iy a.^5ou(\io;, t(|U4v T/v*f luTcev aL^oQ'^vrjvl*; tvKct<rliTO, I lie mail

was troublesome to all good men when they were alive,
but did them honour when they were dead : and when
jF/eroc^had killed Aristobidus^ yei he made him a most
magnificent funeral : So because the Pharisees were

* Luke xi. 47, 48. f Mat. xsiii. 30.

VOL. I J. 10

66 THE ENTAIL OP CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. IV.

of the same humour, tlierefore our blessed Saviour
bids them to fill up the measure of their fathers ini-
quity ;* for they still continued the malice, only they
painted it over with a pretence of piety, and of disa-
vowing their fathers sin ; which if they had done
really, their being children of peisecutors (much
less the adorning of the prophets sepulchres) could
not have been just cause of a wo from Christ ; this
being an act of piety, and the other of nature, ine-
vitable and not chosen by them, and therefore not
chargeable upon them. He therefore that will to
real purposes disavow his fathers crimes, must do it
heartily and humbly, and charitably, and throw off
all affections to the like actions. For he that finds
fault with his father for killing Isaiah or Jeremy^ and
himself shall kill c/^m/o6w///5 and John the Baptist;
he that is angry because the old prophets v^ere mur-
dered, and shall imprison and beggar and destroy the
new ones ; he that disavows the persecution in the
primitive times, and honours the memory of the dead
martyrs, and yet every day makes new ones; he that
blames the oppression of the country by any of his
predecessors, and yet shall continue to oppress his
tenants, and all that are within his gripe; that man
cannot hope to be eased from the curse of his
father's sins ; he goes on to imitate them, and there-
fore to fdl up their measure, and to reap up a full
treasure of wrath.

.3. But concerning the third there Is yet more
difficulty. Those sons that inherit their father's sins
by possessing the price of their father's souls, that is,
by enjoying the goods gotten by their father's ra-
pine, may certainly quit the inheritance of the curse,
if they quit the purchase of the sin, that is, if they
pay their father's debts; his debts of contract, and
his debts of justice; his debts of intercourse, and
his debts of oppresssion. I do not say that every

♦ Matt, xxiii. 32.

Serm. IV. the entatl of curses cut off. 67

man is bound to restore all the land which his ances-
tors have unjustly snatched: for when by law the
possession is established, though the grand- father
entered like a thief, yet the grand-child is bonae
jiJei possessor., and may enjoy it justly. And the
reasons of this are great and necessary : for the
avoiding eternal suits, and perpetu:il diseases of rest
and conscience ; because there is no estate in the
world that could be enjoyed by any man honestly,
if posterity were bound to make restitution of all
the wroncfs done bv their pro<renitors. But althouEfh
the children of the far-removed lines are not obliged
to restitution, yet others are : and some for the same,
some for other reasons.

1. Sons are tied to restore what their fathers did
usurp, or to make agreement and an aceptabic
recompense for it, if the case be visible, evident
and notorious, and the oppressed party demands it :
because in this case the law hath not settled the
possession in the new tenant; or if a judge hath, it
is by injury ; and there is yet no collateral acciden-
tal title transferred by long possession, as it is in
other cases : and therefore if tlie son continues to
oppress the same person whom his father first injur-
ed, he may well expect to be the heir of his father's
curse, as well as of his cursed purchase.

2. Whether bylaw and justice, or not, the person
be obliged, nay, although by all the solemnities of
law the unjust purchase be established, and that in
conscience the grand-children be not obliged to res-
titution in their own particulars, but may continue to
enjoy it without a new sin; yet if we see a curse de-
scending upon the family for the old oppression done
in the days of our grand-fathers, or if we probably
suspect that to be the cause; then, if we make resti-
tution, we also most certainly remove the curse, be-
cause we take away the matter upon which the curse

68 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. JV.

is grounded. I do not say, we sin, if we do not re-
store : but that, if we do not, we may still be pun-
ished. The reason of tliis is clear and visible : For
as without our faults, in many cases, we may enjoy
those lands which our forefathers got unjustly; so
without our faults we may be punished for them.
For as they have transmitted the benefit to us, it is
but reasonable we should suifer the appendant ca-
lamity. {( we receive good, we must also venture
the evil that comes alone; with it. Res transit cum
suo oncre : All lands and possessions pass with their
proper burthens. And if any of my ancestors was a
tenant, and a servant, and held his lands as a villain
to his lord ; his posterity also must do so, though
accidentally they become noble. The case is the
same: If my ancestors entered unjustly, there is a
curse and a plague that is due to that oppression
and injustice; and that is the burthen of the lancl^ and
it descends all along with it. And although I by the
consent of laws am a just possessor, yet I am obliged
to the burthen that comes with the land : I am in-
deed another kind of person than my grand-father;
he was an usurper, but I am a just possessor; but
because in respect of the land this was but an ac-
cidental change, therefore I still am liable to the
burthen, and the curse that descends with it. But
the way to take ottthe curse is to quit the title ; and
yet a man may chuse. It may be, to lose the land
would be the bigger curse : but if it be not, the way
is certain how you may be rid of it. There was a
custom among the Greeks^ that the children of them
that died of consumptions or dropsies, all the while
their fathers bodies were burnino: in their funeral
piles, did sit with their feet in cold water, hoping
that such a lustration and ceremony would take off
the lineal and descendinai; contajrion from the chil-
dren. 1 kaow not what cure they ibund by their

Serm. IV. the entail op cursf.s ctt off. 6^

superstition : but we may be sure, that if we wash
not our feel, but our hands of all the unjust yin-
chascs which our fatiiers have transmitted to us,
their hydropick thirst ol wealtli shall not transmit to
us a consumption of estate, or any other curse. But
this remedy is only in the malter of injury or op-
pression, not in the case of other sins : because
other sins were transient : and as the guilt did not
pass upon the children, so iieitlier did the exteriour
and permanent effect ; and therefore in other sins
(in case they do derive a curse) it cannot be remov-
ed, as in the nmtter of unjust possession it may
be ; whose ellfect (we may so order it) shall no n>ore
stick to us than the guilt of our father's perbonal
actions.

The sum is this : As kingdoms use to expiate the
faults of others by acts of justice; and as churches
use to remove ihc accursed tking from slicking to the
communities of the faithful, and the sins of Chris-
tains from being requiied of the whole congre-
gation, by exconimunicating and censuring the
delinquent persons : so the heirs and sons of fami-
lies are to remove from their house the curse de-
scending from their fathers loins. By 1. Acts of
disavowing the sins of their ancestors; 2. Ey fray-
ing for pardon ; 3. By being l.umbled for them ;
4. By renouncing the example ; and 5. Quitting
the alFection to the ciin.es; t). By not iniilating
the actions in kind, or in semblance and similitude ;
and lastly, 7. By rt fusing to rejoice in the ungodly
purchases in which their fathers did amiss and dealt
wickedly.

Secondly, but after all this, many cases do occur
in which we find that innocent sons are punished.
The remedies I have already discoursed of are for
such children who have in son^e manner or other
contracted and derived the sin upon themselves :

70 THE ENTAIL OP CURSES CUT OFF. Scrm. IV.

But if we inquire how those sons who have no in-
tercourse or affinity with their fathers sins, or whose
fathers sins were so transient that no benefit or
effect did pass upon their posterity, how they may
prevent or take off the curse that Hes upon the fami-
ly for their father's faults; this will have some dis-
tant considerations.

1. The pious children of evil parents are to stand
firm upon the confidence of the Divine grace and
mercy, and upon that persuasion to begin to work
upon a new stock. For it is as certain that he may
derive a blessinoj upon his posterity, as that his parents
could transmit a curse : and if any man by piety shall
procure God's favour to his relatives and children,
it is certain that he hath done more than to escape
the punishment of his father's follies. If sin doth
abound^ and evils by sin are derived from his parents;
much more shcdl grace super-abound^ and mercy by
grace. If he was in danger from the crimes of
others, much rather shall he be secured by his own
piety. For if God punishes the sins of the fathers
to four generations ; yet he rewards the piety of
fathers to ten, to hundreds, and to thousands. Many
of the ancestors of JlbraJiam were persons not noted
for religion, but suffered in the publick impiety and
almost universal idolatry of their ages: and yet all
the evils that could thence descend upon the family
were wiped off; and God began to reckon with
Abraham upon a new stock of blessings and piety ;
and he was, under God, the original of so great a
blessing, that his family for fifteen hundred years
top-ether had from him a title to many favours ; and
whatever evils did chance to them in the descending
ages, were but single evils in respect of that trea-
sure of mercies which the father's piety had obtained
to the whole nation. And it is remarkable to ob-
serve, how blessings did stick to them for their

Serm. IV. the entail op curses cut off. 71

father's sakes, even whether they would or no. For
first, his grandchild Esan piovrd a naughty man,
and he hjst tlie o;reat blessino- which was entailed
upon the family; but he got, not a curse, but a less
blessing : and yet because he lost the greater bless-
ing, God excluded hira from beins: reckoned in the
elder line: for God, forseeing the event, so ordered
it, that he should first lose his birth-right, and then
lose the blessing ; for it was to be certain, the fami-
ly must be reckoned for prosperous in the proper
line ; and yet God blessed Esau into a great nation,
and made him the father of many princes. Now the
line of blessino: beinor reckoned in Jacobs God bless-
ed his family strangely; and by miracle, for almost
five generations. He brought them from Egypt by
mighty signs and wonders : and when for sin they
all died in their way to Canaan., two only excepted;
God so ordered it, that they were all reckoned as
single deaths ; the nation still descended like a river,
whose waters were drunk up for the beverage of an
army, but still it keeps its name and current, and the
waters are supplied by showers, and springs, and
providence. After this, iniquity still increased, and
then God struck deeper, and spread curses upon
whole families; he translated the priesthood from
line to line, he removed the kingdom from one family
to another: and still they sinned worse ; and then we
read that God smote almost a whole tribe ; the tribe
oi Benjamin was ahiiost extinguished about the mat-
ter of the Eccites concubine: but still God remem-
bered his promise which he made with their fore-
fathers, and that breach was made up. After this
we find a greater rupture made : and ten tribes fell
into idolatry, and ten tribes were carried captives
into .jissyria^ and never came again : But still i»od
remembered his covenant with ^^Jbraham, and leit two
tribes. But they were restless in tiieir provoca-

72 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Scrm. IV.

tion of the God of ./Ibraham ; and they also were
carried captive; but still God was the God of their
fathers, and brouc^ht them back, and placed them
safe, and they grew again into a kingdom, and should
have remained for ever, but that they killed one
that was greater than ,/^hraham, even the Messias ;
and then they were rooted out, and the old cove-
nant cast oiT, and God delighted no more to be
"l called 'he God of Abraham, but the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. As long as God kept that rela-
tion, so long for the fathers sakes they had a title and
an inheritance to a blessing: for sosaith saint Paul,
[.j^s touching the election, they are beloved, for the
fathers sakes.y^

I insist the longer upon this instance, that I may
remonstrate how great and how sure, and how pre-
serving mercies, a pious father of a fam.ily may derive
upon his succeeding generations: and if we do but
tread in the footsteps of our Father Abraham, we shall
inherit as certain blessings. But then, I pray, add
these consideratiojis.

2. If a great impiety and a clamorous wickedness
hath stained the honour of a family, and discomposed
its title to the Divine mercies and protection, it is not
an ordinary piety that can restore this family. An
ordinary, even course of life, full of sweetness and
innocence, will secure every single person in his own
eternal interest: but that piety which must be a
spring!' of blessings, and communicative to others,
that must plead against the sins of their ancestors,
and begin a new bank of mercies for the relatives;
that must be a great and excelhuit, a very religious
state of life. A small pension will maintain a smgle
person : but he that hath a numerous family, and
many to provide for, needs a greater providence of
God, and a bigger provision for their maintenance :
and a small revenue will not keep up the dignity of

* Roin. XI. 28.

Serm. IV. the kntail of crT^'^F.s cut off. 73

a great house ; especially if it be cliarged ^villl a
great debt. And this is the very state of the prcs{ nt
question. That piety tliat must be instrumental to
take otFthe curse imminent upon a family, to bless a
numerous posterity, to secure a fair condition to
many ages, and to pay the debts of their fathers sins,
must be so large, as that, all necessary expenses and
duties for his own soul being fiist discharged, it may
be remarkable in great expressions, it may be ex-
emplar to all the family, it may be of universal edi-
cacy, large in the extension of parts, deep in the
intention of degrees: and then, as the root of a tree
receives nourishment not only sufficient to preserve
its own life, but to transmit a plastick juice to the trunk
of the tree, and from thence to the utmost branch
and smallest gem that knots in the most distant part;
so shall the great and exemplar piety of the father
of a family not only preserve to the interest of his
own soul the life of grace and hopes of glory, but
shall be a quickening spirit, active and communica-
tive of a blessing, not only to the trunk of the tree,
to the body and rightly-descending line, but even to
the collateral branches, to the most distant relatives,
and all that shall claim a kindred shall have a title
to a blessing. And this was the way that was pre-
scribed to the family of i^//, upon whom a sad curse
was entailed, that there should not be an old man of
the family for ever, and that they should be beggars,
and lose the office of priesthood i by the counsel of
R. Johanan., the son of Zaccfieus^ all the family be-
took themselves to a great, a strict, and a severe
religion ; and God was intreated to revoke his de-
cree, to be reconciled to the family, to restore them
to the common condition of men, from whence they
stood separate by the displeasure of God a2;ainst
the crime of Eli^ and his sons Hophni and Phtneas,
This course is sure either to take off the judgment,

VOL. II. 11

74 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Serm. IV.

or to change it into a blessing; to take away the
rod, or the smart and evil of it ; to convert the pun-
ishment into a mere natural or human chance, and
that chance to the opportunity of a virtue, and that
virtue to the occasion of a crown.

3. It is of great use for the securing of famihes, that
every master of a family order his life so, that his
piety and virtue be as communicative as is possible,
that is, that he secure the religion of his whole family
by a severe supravision, and animadversion, and by
cutting off all those unprofitable and hurtful branch-
es which load the tree, and hinder the growth, and
stock and disinprove the fruit, and revert evil juice
to the very root itself. Calvisius Sabinus laid out
vast sums of money upon his servants to stock his
house with learned men ; and brought one that could
recite all Homer by heart, a second that was ready
at Hesiod^ a third at Pindar^ and for every of the
lyricks one ; having this fancy, that all that learning
"was his own, and whatsoever his servants knew
made him so much the more skilful. It was noted in
the man for a rich and prodigal folly : but if he had
changed his instance, and brought none but virtuous
sei-vants into his house, he might better have reckon-
ed his wealth upon their stock, and the piety of his
family might have helped to bless him, and to have
increased the treasure of his master's virtue. Every
man that would either cut off the title of an old
curse, or secure a blessing upon a new stock, must
make virtue as large in the fountain as he can, that it
may the sooner wat«r all his relatives with fruitful-
ness and blessings. And this was one of the things
that God noted in Abraham., and blessed his family
for it, and his posteiity : I know that Abraham ivill
teach his sons to fear me. When a man teaches his
family to know and fear God, then he scatters a bless-
ing round about his habitation. And this helps to

J

Serm. IV. the entail of curses cut off. 75

illustrate the reason of the thing, as well as to prove
its certainty. We hear it spoken in our books of
religion, that the faith of the parents is imputed to
their children to good purposes, and that a good hus-
band sanctifies an ill wife, and a believing ivife^ an
unbelieving husband ; and either of them makes the
children to be sanctified, else ihcy were unclean and
unholy ; that is, the very designing children to the
service of God is a sanctilication of them ; and there-
fore St. Hicroni calls christian children candidaios
fidei christiance. And if this very designation of them
makes them holy, that is, acceptable to God, entitled
to the promises, partakers of the covenant, Avithin
the condition of sons; much more shall it be elft;c-
tua! to greater blessings, when the parents take care
that the children shall be actually pious, full of so-
briety, full of religion, then it becomes a holy house,
a chosen generation^ an elect family ; and then there
can no evil happen to them, but such which will
bring them nearer to God : that is, no cross, but the
cross of Christ; no misfortune, but that which shall
lead them to felicity ; atid if any semblance of a
curse happens in the generations, it is but like the
anathema of a sacrifice ; not an accursed, but a devot-
ed thing : for so the sacrilice upon whose neck the
priest's knife doth fall is so far from being accursed,
that it helps to get a blessing to all that join in the
oblation. So every misfortune that shall discompose
the ease of a pious and religious famib , shall but make
them fit to be presented unto God ; and the rod of
God shall be like the branches of fig-trees, bitter
and sharp in themselves, but productive of most de-
licious fruit. No evil can curse the family whose
stock is pious, and whose branches are holiness to the
Lord. U any leaf or any boughs shall fall untimely,
God shall gather them up, and place them in his
temple, or at the foot of his throne, and that family

76 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Scrm. IV.

must needs be blessed, whom infellcilj itself cannot
make accursed.

4. If a curse be feared to descend upon a family
for the fault of their ancestors, pious sons have jet
another way to secure tliemselves, and to withdraw
the curse from the family, or themselves from the
curse ; and that is, by doing' some very great ar.d
illustrious act of piety, an action m ^r«f/w /i€ro?co, (as
Aristotle calls it) a heroical action, if there sliould
happen to be one martyr in a family, it would recon-
cile the whole kindred lo God, and make him who
is more inclined to mercy than to severity, rather to
be pleased with the relatives of the martyr, than to
continue to be angry with the nephews of a deceased
sinner. I cannot insist long upon this: but you may
see it proved by one great instance in the case of
Phineas., who killed an unclean prince, and turned
the wrath of God from his people. He was zealous
for God and his countrymen, at»d did a heroical ac-
tion of zeal : wherefore (saith God) Behold I ^ive unto
him my covenant of pcace^ and he shall have it, and his
seed after him ; even the covenant of an everlasting
priesthood ; because he was zealous for his God., and
made an atonement for the chiklrcn of Israel. Thus
tiie sons of Rechab obtained the blessing of an en-
during and blessed family, because they were most
strict and religious observers of their father's pre-
cepts, and kept tliem after his death, and abstained
from wine for ever ; and no temptation could invite
thcni to taste it; for they had as great reverence to
their father's ashes, as, being children, they had to
his rod and to his eyes. Thus a man may turn the
wrath of God from his family, and secure a blessing
for posterity, by doing some great noble acts of cha-
rity ; or a remarkable chastity like that of ^os^y:/^;
or an expens»ve, an ail'ertionate religion and love to
Christ and iiis servants, as Mary Magdalen did. Such

Serm. IV. the f.xtail of cttrsps cut off. 77

things as these which are extraordinary egressions
and transvolations beyond the ordinary course of an
even piety, God loves to reward with an extraordi-
nary favour; and gives them testimony by an extra-
regular blessing.

One thing more I have to add by way of advice;
and that is, tliat all parents and fatht-rs of families,
from whose loins a blessing or a curse usually does
descend, be very carelVd, not only generally in all the
actions of their lives, (for that 1 have already press-
ed) but particularly in the matter of repentance;
that they be curious that they finish it, and do It
thoroughly : for there are certain Ca-Tepnytrd /ui^uvom, leav-
ings of repentance^ which make that God's anger is
taken from us so imperfectly : and although God,
for his sake who died for us, will pardon a returning
sinner, and bring him to heaven through tribulation
and a fiery trial ; yet when a man is weary of his
sorrow, and his tastings are a load to him, and his
sins are not so perfectly renounced, or hated as they
ought, the parts of repentance which are left unho-
ished do sometimes fall upon the heads or upon the
fortunes of the children. J do not say, this is regular
and certain ; but sometimes Cod deals thus: for this
thing hath been so, and tiierefore it may be so again.
We see it was done, in the case ofjJhab ; he humbled
himself and went sof/ly^ and lay in sackcloth, and called
for pardon, and God took trom him a judgment which
was tailing heavily upon him : but we all know his
repentance was imperfect and lame: the same evil
fell upon his sons; for so said God, J will bring the
evil upon his house in his sons days. Leave no arrears
for thy posterity to pay ; but repent with an integral,
a holy and excellent repentance, that God being re-
conciled to thee thoroughly, for thy sake also he may
bless thy seed after thee.

78 THE ENTAIL OF CURSES CUT OFF. Scrm. IV.

And after all this, add a continual, a fervent, a
hearty, a never-ceasing prayer for thy children, ever
remembering, when they beg a blessing, that God
hath put much of their fortune into your hands ; and
a transient formal God bless thee will not outweigh
the load of a great vice, and the curse which scatters
from thee by virtual contact, and by the channels of
relation, if thou beest a vicious person : nothing can
issue from thy fountain but bitter waters. And, as
it were a great impudence for a condemned traitor
to beg of his injured prince a province for his son for
his sake: so it is an ineffective blessing we give our
children, when we beg for them what we have no title
to for ourselves; nay, when we convey to them no-
thing but a curse. The piayer of a sinner, the un-
hallowed wish of a vicious parent, is but a poor dona-
tive to give a child who sucked poison from his nurse,
and derives cursing from his parents. They are
punished with a double torture in the shame and
pain of the damned, who, dying enemies to God,
have left an inventory of sins and wrath to be divid-
ed amongst their children. But they that can truly
Sfive a blessino^ to their children, are such as live a
blessed life, and pray holy prayers, and perform an
integral repentance, and do separate from the sins of
their progenitors, and do illustrious actions, and be-
gin the blessing of their family upon a new stock.
For as from the eyes of some poisons there shoots
forth an evil influQUce, and some have an evil eye, and
are infectious, some look healthfully as a friendly
planet, and innocent as flowers; and as some fan-
cies convey private effects to confederate and allied
bodies; and between the very vital spirits of friends
an 1 relatives tiiere is a cognation, and they refresh
each other like social plants; and a good man is a
* friend to every good man: and (they say) that an

Serm. IV. the entail of ctrses cut off. 79

usurer knows an usurer, and one rich man another,
there being by the very manners of men contracted a
simihtude of nature, and a communication of effects :
so in parents and their childicn there is so great a
society of nature and of manners, of blessing and
cursing, that an evil parent cannot perish in a single
death : and holy parents never eat their meal of
blessing alone, but they make the room shine like the
fire of a holy sacrifice; and a father's or a mother's
piety makes all the house festival and full of joy from
generation to generation. Jlmen.

SERMON V.

THE INVALIDITY

A LA.TE OR DEATH-BED REPENTANCE.

Jeremv xiii. 16.

Give glory to tlie Lord your Cod, before he cause darkness, and be-
fore your feet stumble upon tlie dark mountains ; and while ye look
for Hght, (or, lest while ye look for light) he shall turn it into the
shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

God is the eternal fountain of honour and the spring
of glory ; in him it dwells essentially, from him it
derives originally ; and when an action is glorious,
or a man is honourable, it is because the action is
pleasing to God, in the relation of obedience or
imitation, and because the man is honoured by God,
and by God's vicegerent : and therefore God cannot
be dishonoured, because all honour comes from
himself; he cannot but be glorified, because to be
himself is to be Infinitely glorious. And yet he is
pleased to say, that our sins dishonour him, and our
obedience does glorify him. But as the sim, the
great eye of the world, prying into the recesses of
rocks and the hollowness of valleys, receives spe-
cies or visible forms from these objects, but he be-
holds them only by that light which proceeds from

Serm. V. the invalidity of a late &c. 81

himself: so does God, who is the hght of that eye ;
he receives reflexes and returns from us, and these
he calls glorijications of himseh, but they are such
which are made so by his own gracious accepta-
tion. For God cannot be glorified by any thing
but by himself, and by his own instruments, which
he makes as mirrors to reflect his own excellency ;
that by seeing the glory of such emanations, he may
rejoice in his own works, because they are images
of his infinity. Thus when he made the beauteous
frame of heaven and earth, he rejoiced in it, and
glorified himself; because it was the glass in which
he beheld his wisdom and almighty power. And
when God destroyed the old world, in that also he
glorified himself; for in those waters he saw the
image of his justice, they were the looking-glass
for that attribute; and God is said ^o laugh at and
rejoice in the destruction of a sinner^ because he is
pleased with the economy of his own laws, and the
excellent proportions he hath made of his judg-
ments consequent to our sins. But, above all, God
rejoiced in his holy Son ; for he was the image of
the Divinity, the character and express image of his
person; in him he beheld his own essence, his Avis-
dom, his power, his justice, and his person; and he
was that excellent instrument designed from eternal
ages to represent, as in a double mirror, not only
the glories of God to himself, but also to all the
world ; and he glorified God by the instrument of
obedience, in which God beheld his own dominion
and the sanctity of his laws clearly represented;
and he saw his justice glorified, when it was fully
satisfied by the passion of his Son ; and so he hath
transmitted to us a great manner of the divine glo-
rification, being become to us the author and the
example of giving glory to God after the manner
of men, that is by well-doing and patient sufiering?

VOL II. 12

82 THE ixvALiDiTT OP A LATE Serm» V.

by obeying his laws and submitting to his power, by
imitating his hoHness and confessing his goodness,
by remaining innocent or becoming penitent; for
this also is called in the text Giving glory to the
Lord our God.

. For he that hath dishonoured God by sins, that
is, hath denied by a moral instrument of duty and
subordination to confess the glories of his power,
and the goodness of his laws, and hath dishonoured
and despised his mercy which God intended as an
instrument of our piety, hath no better way to
glorify God, than by returning to his duty, to ad-
vance the honour of the divine attributes, in which
he is pleased to communicate himself, and to have
intercourse with man. He that repents, confesses
his own errour, and the righteousness of God's laws,
and by judging himself confesses that he deserves
punishment, and therefore that God is righteous if
he punishes him : and, by returning, confesses God
to be the fountain of felicity, and the foundation of
true, solid, and permanent joys, saying in the sense
and passion of the diciples, TVIiither shall we go ?
for thou hast the ivords of eternal life : and by hum-
bling himself, exalts God, by making the proportions
of distance more immense and vast. And as repent-
ance does contain in it all the parts of holy life
which can be performed by a returning sinner, (all
the acts and habits of virtue being but parts, or
instances, or effects of repentance:) so all the
actions of a holy life do constitute the mass and
body of all those instruments whereby God is pleas-
ed to glorify himself. For if God is glorified in the
sun and moon, in the rare fabrick of the honey-combs,
in the discipline of bees, in the economy of pis-
mires, in the little houses of birds, in the curiosity
of an eye, God being pleased to delight in those
little images and reflexes himself from those pretty

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. 83

mirrors, which, hke a crevice in a wall, through a
narrow perspective transmit the species of a vast
excellency: much rather shall God be pleased to
behold himself in the glasses of our obedience, in the
emissions of our wil! and understanding; these being
rational and apt instruments to express him, far
better than the natural, as being nearer communica-
tions of himself.

But I shall no longer discourse of the philosophy
of this expression : certain it is, that in the style of
scripture, repentance is the gredit glorification of God ;
and the prophet, by calling the people to give God
giorjf, calls upon them to repent^ and so expresses
both the duty and the event of it ; the event being
Glory to God on high, peace on earth, and good will
toivards men by the sole instrument of repentance.
And this was it which Joshua said to Achan, Give, I
pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make
confession unto him :* that one act of repentance is
one act of p;lorifvino; God. And this Z)«ij/t/ acknow-
ledged ; Against thee only have I sinned : ut tu
justificeris, that thou mightest be justified or cleared ;t
that is, that God may have the honour of being
righteous, and we the shame of receding from so
excellent a perfection ; or, as St. Paul quotes and
explicates the place. Let God be true, and every man
a liar : as it is written. That thou mightest be justified
in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art
judged.^ But to clear the sense of this expression of
the prophet, observe the words of St. John; And
men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the
name of God, who hath power over those plagues : and
they repented not to give him glory.^

So that having strength and reason from these so
many authorities, I may be free to read the words of
my text thus, Repent of all your sins, before God

* Joshua vii. 19. | Psal. li. 4. t Rom. iii. 4. 6 Rcr. xvi. ■9.

84 THE JNVALIDITY OF A LATB Serm. F.

cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the
dark mountains. And then we have here the duty of
repentance, and the time of its performance. It must
be /utrttvaiu iuMi^o?, Q scttsonabU and timely repentance, a
repentance which must begin before our darkness
begin, a repentance in the daj-time ; ut dum dies est
operimini, that ye may work while it is to-day ; lest,
if we stumble upon the dark mountains, that is, fall into
the ruins of old age, which makes a broad way narrow,
and a plain way to be a craggy mountain, or if we
stumble and fall into our last sickness ; instead of
health, God sends us to our grave, and instead of light
and salvation, which we then confidently look for, he
make our state to be outer darkness, that is, misery
irremediable, misery eternal.

This exhortation of the prophet was always full of
caution and prudence, but now it is highly necessary;
since men who are so clamorously called to repent-
ance that they cannot avoid the necessity of it, yet,
that they may reconcile an evil life with the hopes of
heaven, have crowded this duty into so little room,
that it is almost strangled and extinct ; and they have
lopped off so many members, that they have reduced
the whole body of it to the dimensions of a little fin-
ger, sacrificing their childhood to vanity, their youth
to lust and tx? intemperance, their manhood to ambi-
tion and rage, pride and revenge, secular desires, and
unholy actions ; and yet still farther, giving their old
age to covetousness and oppression, to the woild and
the devil: and after all this, what remains for God
and for religion ? Oh, for that they will do well
enough ; upon their death-bed they will think a (ew
^odly thoughts, they will send for a priest to minis-
ter comfort to them, they will pray and ask God for-
giveness, and receive the holy sacrament, and leave
their goods behind them, disposing them to their
friends and relatives, and some dole and issues of the

Scrm. V. OR death-bed repentance. 86

alms basket to the poor; and if, after all tliis, they dlo
quietly and hke a lamb, and be canonized by a brib-
ed flatterer in a funeral sermon, they make no doubf
but they are children of the kingdom, and perceive
not their folly till without hope of remedy they roar
in their expectations of a certain, but a honid eter-
nity of pains. Certainly nothing hath made more
ample harvests for the devil, than tlje defening of
repentance upon vain coniidences, and lessening it in
the extension of parts as well as intention of degrees,
"while we imagine that a few tears and scatteiings of
devotion are enough to expatiate the baseness of a
fifty or a three score years impiety. I'his I shall
endeavour to cure, by shewing what it is to repent ;
and that repentance implies in it the duty of a life, or
of many and great, of long and lasting parts of it;
and then by direct arguments, shewing that repent-
ence put otf to our death-bed is invalid and inefifectu-
al, sick, languid and impotent, like our dying bodies
and disabled faculties.

1. First, therefore, Repentance implies a deep
sorrow, as the beginning and introduction of this
duty: not a superlicial sigh or tear, not a calling our-
selves sinners and miserable persons; this is far from
that godly sorroiv that tcorketh repentance : and yet I
wish there were none in the world, or none amongst
us, who cannot remember that ever they have done
this little towards the abohtion of their multitudes of
sins: but yet if it were not a hearty, pungent sorrow^
a sorrow that shall break the heart in pieces, a sorrow
that shall so irreconcile us to sin, as to make us rather
chuse to die than to sin, it is not so much as the be-
ginning of repentance. But in holy scripture, when
the people are called to repentance, and sorrow
(which is ever the prologue to it) marches sadly, and
first opens the scene, it is ever expressed to be great,
clamorous, and sad : it is called a steeping sorely in

86 THE INVALIDITY OF A LATE Semi. V.

the next verse after my text ; a weeping ivith the bit-
terness of heart ; a turning to the Lord with weeping.,
fasting., and mourning ;* a weeping day and night ;
the sorrow of heart ; the breaking of the spirit ; the
mourning like a dove, and chattering like a sivalloiv.'\
And if we observe the threnes and sad accents of the
prophet Jeremy., when he wept for the sins of liis
nation; the heart-breakings oi David, when he mourn-
ed for his adultery and murder; and the bitter tears
of St. Peter., when he washed off the guilt and base-
ness of his fall, and the denying his Master ; we shall
be sufficiently instructed in this praeludium or intro-
duction to repentance ; and that it is not every breath
of a sigh or moisture of a tender eye, not every cry-
ing Lord., have mercy upon me., that is such a sorrow
as begins our restitution to the state of grace and
divine favour : but such a sorrow that really condemns
ourselves, and by an active, effectual sentence de-
clares us worthy of stripes and death, of sorrow and
eternal pains, and willingly endures the first, to pre-
vent the second ; and weeps, and mourns, and fasts,
to obtain of God but to admit us to a possibility of
restitution. And although all sorrow for sins hath
not the same expression, nor the same degree of pun-
gency and sensitive trouble, which differs according
to the temper of the body, custom, the sex, and acci-
dental tenderness ;| yet it is not a godly sorrow un-
less it really produce those effects: that is, 1. That it
makes us really to hate, and 2. actually to decline
sin ; and 3. produce in us a fear of God's anger, a
sense of the guilt of his displeasure ; and 4. then such
consequent trouble as can consist with such appre-
hension of the Divine pleasure : which if it express not
in tears and hearty complaints, must be expressed in
watchings and strivings against sin; in confessing the

*Ezek. 27. 31. f Joel ii. 13.

I See Rule of H. Living, D, of Repentance, p. 335.

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. 87

goodness and justice of God threatening or punishing
us ; in patiently bearing the rod of God ; in con-
fession of our sins ; in accusation of ourselves ; in
perpetual begging of pardon, and mean and base
opinions of ourselves ; and in all the natural produc-
tions from these, according to our temper and consti-
tution: it must be a sorrow of the reasonable faculty,
the greatest in its kind : and if it be less in kind, or
not productive of these effects, it is not a godly sor-
row, not the exordium of repentance.

But I desire that it be observed, that sorrow for
sins is not repentance; not that duty which gives glo-
ry to God, so as to obtain of him that he will glorify
us. Repentance is a great volume of duty ; and godly
sorrow is but the frontispiece or title page ; it is the
harbinger or first introduction to it: Or, if you will
consider it in the words of Saint Paul^ [Godly sorrow
luorketh repentance ;*] Sorrow is the parent, and re-
pentance is the product. And therefore it is a high
piece of ignorance to suppose, that a crying out and
roaring for our sins upon our death-bed can reconcile
us to God : our crying to God must be so early and so
lasting, as to be able to teem and produce such a
daughter, which must live long, and grow from an
embryo to an infant, from infancy to childhood, from
thence to the fulness of the stature of Christ ; and
then it is a holy and a happy sorrow. But if it be a
sorrow only of a death-bed, it is a fruitless shower, or
like the rain of Sodom^ not the beginning of repen-
tance, but the kindling of a flame, the commence-
ment of an eternal sorrow. For Ahab had a o-reat
sorrow, but it wrought nothing upon his spirit ; it
did not reconcile his affections to his duty, and his
duty to God. Jiidas had so great a sorrow for be-
traying the innocent blood of his Lord, that it was
intolerable to his spirit, and he burst in the middle.

* 2 Cor. vii. 10.

88 THE iNVALiDiTy OF A LATE Semi. V.

And if mere sorrow be repentance, then hell Is full of
penitents ; for there is weeping-, and wailing, and gnash-
ing of teeth forcvermore.

Let us therefore beg of God (as Calel/s daughter
did of her father.) Dedisii mihi terram aridam, da
etiam et irriguam, Thou hast given me a dry land,
gJA'e me also a land of waters, a dwelilng-place in
tears, rivers of tears; C/if, quoniaiji non sumus digni
oculos orando ad caelum levare, at simus digni ocidos
plorando caecare, as Saint Austin''s expression is ; That
because we are not worthy to lift up our eyes to hea-
ven in prayer, yet we may be worthy to weep our-
selves blind for sin. The meaning is, That we beg
sorrow of God, such a sorrow, as may be sufficient to
quench the flames of lust, and surmount the hills of
our pride, and may extinguish our thirst of covetous-
ness ; that is, a sorrow that shall be an effective prin-
ciple of arming all our faculties against sin, and hear-
tily setting upon the work of grace, and the persever-
ing labours of a holy life. I shall only add one word
to this : That our sorrow for sin is not to be estimat-
ed by our tears and sensible expressions, but by our
active hatred and dereliction of sin; and is many
times unperceived in outward demonstration. It is
reported of the mother of Peter Lombard, Gratian,
and Comestor, that she having had three sons begot-
ten in unhallowed embraces, upon her death-bed did
omit the recitation of these crimes to her confessor;
adding this for apology, that her three sons proved
persons so eminent in the church, that their excellence
was abundant recompence for her demerit ; and there-
fore she could not grieve, because God had glorified
himself so much by three instruments so excellent ;
and that although her sin had abounded, yet God's
frrace did super-abound. Her confessor replied, ^t
dole saltern, quod dole re non possis. Grieve that thou
canst not grieve. And so must we always fear, that

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. 89

our trouble for sin is not great enough, that our sor-
row is too remiss, that our afrections are indifferent :
but we can only be sure that our sorrow is a godlj
sorrow, when it worketh repentance; that is, when
it makes us hate and leave all our sin, and take up the
cross of patience or penance, that is, confess our sin,
accuse ourselves, condemn the action by hearty sen-
tence ; and then, if it hath no other emanation but fast-
ing and prayer for its pardon, and hearty industry
towards its abolition, our sorrow is not reprovable.

2. For sorrow alone will not do it; there must fol-
low a total dereliction of our sin : and this is the first
part of repentance. Concerning which I consider,
that it is a sad mistake amongst many that do some
things towards repentance, that they mistake the
first addresses and instiuments of this part of repen-
tance tor the whole duty of itself Confession of sins
is in order to the dereliction of them : but then con-
fession must not be like the unlading of a ship
to take in new stowage; or the vomits of intempe-
rance, which ease the stomach that they may conti-
nue the merry meeting. But such a confession is too
frequent, in which men either comply with custom,
or seek to ease a present load or gripe of conscience,
or are willing to dress up their souls against a festi-
val, or hope for pardon upon so easy terms : these are
but retirings back to leap the farther into mischief;
or but approaches to God with the lips. No confes-
sion can be of any use, but as it is an instrument of
shame to the person, of humiliation to the man, and
dereliction of the sin ; and receives its recompence
but as it adds to these purposes : all other is like
the bleating of the calves and the lowing of the oxen,
which Said reserved after the spoil ol -^^gag ; they
proclaim the sin, but do nothing towards its cure ;
they serve God's end to make us justly to be con-
demned out of our own mouths, but nothing at all

VOL. II. 13

00 THE INVALIDITY OF A LATE Semi. V.

towards our absolution. Naj, if we proceed farther
to the greatest expressions of huniihation, (parts of
which I reckon fasting, praying for pardon, judging
and condemning of ourselves by instances of a pre-
sent indignation against a crime ;) yet unless this pro-
ceed so fiir as to a total deletion of the sin, to the ex-
tirpation of every vicious habit, God is not glorified
by our repentance, nor we secured in our eternal
interest. Our sin must be brought to judgment, and,
like j]ntinous in Horner^ layed in the midst as the
sacrifice and the cause of all the mischief.

'A\?.' 0 fji.iv >iSn lanctt o; ui"i(>( t<rTiv aTrxvTm*

This is the murderer, this is the Jlchan^ this is he that
troubles Israel : let the sin be confessed and carried
with the pomps and solemnities of sorrow to its fune-
ral, and so let the murderer be slain. But if after all
the forms of confession and sorrow, fasting and humi-
liation, and pretence of doing the will of God, we
spare ^igag and the fattest of the cattle^ our delicious
sins, and still leave an unlawful king, and a tyrant-^m
to reign in our mortal bodies^ we may pretend what
we will towards repentance, but we are no better
penitents than Jlhab ; no nearer to the obtaining of
our hopes than Esau was to his birthright,ybr whose
repentance there was no place Uft^ though he sought it
carefidly with tears.

3. Well, let us suppose our penitent advanced thus
far, as that he decrees against all sin, and in his hearty
purposes resolves to decline it, as in a severe sentence
he hath condemned it as his betrayer and his murder-
er; yet we must be curious (for now only the repent-
ance properly begins) that it be not only like the
springings of the thorny or the high- way ground,
soon up and soon down : For some men, when a sad-

* Horn r Od : xxii. 38.
The cause and authoiof those guilty deeds
Lo ! at thy feet unjust Autinous bleeds. Pofk.

Serm. V. or death-bed repent a nce. 91

ness or an unhandsome accident surprises them, then
they resolve against their sin, but, like the goats in
Aristotle^ they give their milk no longer than they
are stung; as soon as the thorns arc removed, these
men return to their first hardness, and resolve then to
act their first temptation. Others there are who
never resolve against a sin, but either when they
have no temptation to it, or when their appetites are
newly satisfied with it: like those who immediately
after a full dinner resolve to fast at supper, and they
keep it till their appetite returns, and then their reso-
lution unties like the cords of vanity, or the gossamer
against the violence of the northern wind. Thus a
lustful person fills all the capacity of his lust; and
when he is wearied, and the sin goes off with un-
quietness and regret, and the appetite falls down like a
horseleech, when it is ready to burst with putrefac-
tion and an unwholesome plethory, then he resolves to
be a good man, and could almost vow to be a hermit ;
and hates his lust, as Amnon hated his sister Thamar,
when he had newly acted his iinw orthy rape : but the
next spring-tide that comes, every wave of the temp-
tation, makes an inroad upon the resolution, and gets
ground, and prevails against it, more than his resolu-
tion prevailed against his sin. How many drunken
persons, how many swearers resolve daily and hourly
against their sin, and yet act them not once the less
for all their infinite heap of shamefully retreating pur-
poses ? That resolution that begins upon just grounds
of sorrow and severe judgment, upon fear and love,
that is made in the midst of a temptation, that is inqui-
sitive into all the means and Instruments of the cure,
that prays perpetually against a sin, that watches
continually against a surprise, and never sinks into it
by deliberation, that fights earnestly, and carries on
the war prudently, and prevails by a never-ceasing
diligence against the temptation ; that only is a pious
and well begun repentance. They that have theiv

92 THE IMVALIDITT Of* A LATE Scrm. V,

fits of a quartan, v/ell and ill for ever, and think them-
selves in perfect health when the ague is retired, till
its period returns, are dangerously mistaken. Those
intervals of imperfect and fallacious resolution are
nothing but states of death: and if a man should de-
part this world in one of those godly fits, (as he thinks
them,) he is no nearer to obtain his blessed hope,
than a man in the stone cholick is to health when
his pain Is eased for the present, his disease still
remaining, and threatening an unwelcome return.
That resolution only is the beginning of a holy repen-
tance which goes for'h into act, and whose acts en-
large into habits, and whose habits are productive of
the fruits of a holy life.

From hence we are to take our estimate, whence
our resolutions of piety must commence. He that re-
solves not to live well till the time comes that he must
die, is ridiculous in his great design, as he is imperti-
nent in his Intermedial purposes, and vain in his hope*
Can a dying man to any real eifect resolve to be
chaste ? (for virtue must be an act of election, and
chastity is the contesting against a proud and an im-
perious lust, active flesh, and insinuating temptation.)
And what doth he resolve agfainst, who can no more
be tempted to the sin of unchastity than he can re-
turn back again to his youth and vigour ? And it is
considerable, that since all the purposes of a holy life
which a dying man can make, cannot be reduced to
act; by what law, or reason, oj' covenant, or revela-
tion are we tausfht to distiniruish the resolution
of a dying man from the purposes of a living arid
vigorous person ? Suppose a man in his youth and
health, moved by consideration of the irregularity and
deformity of sin, the danger of its productions, the
wrath and displeasure of Almighty God, should re-
solve to leave the puddles of impurity, and Avalk in
the paths of righteousness; can this resolution alone
put him into the state of grace ? Is he admitted to

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. 93

pardon and the favour of God, before he hath in
some measure performed actually what he so reason-
ably hath resolved; by no means. Fur resolution
and purpose is in its own nature and constitution an
imperfect act, and therefore can signify nothing with-
out its performance and consummation. It is as a
faculty is to the act, as spring is to the harvest, as
seed-time is to the autumn, as eggs are to birds, or
as a relative to its correspondent : nothing without it.
And can it be imagined that a resolution in our health
and life shall be inelfectual without performance } and
shall a resolution, barely such, do any good upon our
death-bed ? Can such purposes prevail against a long
impiety rather than against a young and a newly-be-
gun state of sin ? Will God at an easier rate pardon
the sins of fifty or sixty years, than the sins of our
youth only, or the iniquity of five years, or ten ? If a
holy life be not necessary to be lived, why shall it be
necessary, to resolve to live it ? But if a holy life be
necessary, then it cannot be sufficient merely to re-
solve it, unless this resolution go forth in an actual
and real service. Vain, therefore, is the hope of those
persons who either go on in their sins, before their
last sickness never thinking to return into the ways
of God, from whence they have Avandered all their
life, never renewing their resolutions and vows of
holy living : or if they have, yet their purposes are
for ever blasted with the next violent temptation.
More prudent was the prayer of David, Oh spare me
a little, that I may recover my strength before I fro hence
and be no more seen. And something like it, was the
saying of the Emperour Charles the Mth, Inter vitae
neijrotia ef mortis diem oportet spaiium intercedere.
Whenever our holy purposes are renewed, unless
God gives us time to act them, to mortify and subdue
our lusts, to conquer and subdue the whole kingdom
of sin, to rise from our grave, and be clothed with
nerves and flesh, and a new skin, to overcome our

94 THE INVALIDITY OP A LATE Serm. V.

deadly sicknesses, and by little and little to return to
health and strength ; unless we have grace and time
to do all this, our sins will lie down with us in our
graves. For when a man hath contracted a long
habit of sin, and it hath been growing upon him ten
or twenty, forty or fifty years, whose acts he hath
daily or hourly repeated, and they are grown to a
second nature to him, and have so prevailed upon the
ruins of his spirit, that the man is taken captive by the
devil at his will, he is fast bound, as a slave tugging
at the oar, that he has grown in love with his fetters,
and longs to be doing the work of sin : is it likely
that after all his progress and growth in sin, (in the
ways of Vv^hich he runs fast without any Impediment)
is it (I say) likely, that a few days or weeks of sick-
ness can recover him ? [the special hindrances of that
state I shall afterwards consider.] But, can a man be
supposed so prompt to piety and holy living, a man
(I mean) that hath lived wickedly a long time toge-
ther, can he be of so ready and active a virtue upon the
sudden, as to recover in a month or a week what he
hath been undoing in twenty or thirty years ? Is it so
easy to build, that a weak and infirm person, bound
hand and foot, shall be able to build more in three
days than was a building above forty years ? Christ
did it in a figurative sense ; but in this, it is not in the
power of any man so suddenly to be recovered from
so long a sickness. Necessary therefore it is, that all
these instruments of our conversion. Confession of
sins, pratjing for their pardon, and resolution to lead
a neiv life, should begin before our feet simnble upon
the dark mountains ; lest we leave the work only re-
solved upon to be begun, which it is necessary we
should in many decrees finish, if ever we mean to
escape the eternal darkness. " For that we should
actually abolish the whole of sin and death; that we
shoui'l crucify the old man with his- lusts, that we should
lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. 95

beset us ^ that we should cast mcay the ivorks of dark-
ness, that we should aicalce from sleep, and arise from
death, that we should redeem the time, that we should
cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, that we should
have escaped the corruption (all the corruption) that is
in the ivhole ivorld through lust, that nothing of the old
leaven should remain in us, but that we be wholly a neiu
lump, thoroughly transformed and changed in the image
of our mind •'"' these are the perpetual precepts of the
spirit, and the certain duty of man : and that, to have
all these in purpose only, is merely to no purpose,
without the actual eradication of every vicious habit;
and the certain abolition of every criminal adherence,
is clearly and dogmatically decreed every where in
the scripture. For (they are the words of St. Paul)
they thai are Chrisfs have crucified the flesh, with the
affections and lusts ;* the Avork is actually done, and
sin is dead, or wounded mortally, before they can in
any sense belong to Christ, to be a portion of his in-
heritance : And, He that is in Christ is a new creature.'f
For in Christ Jesus nothing can avail but a new crea-
ture ;X nothing but a keeping the commandments of
God.^ Not all our tears, though we should weep
like David and his men at Zikiag, till they could weep
no more, or the women of Ra.mah, or like the iveeping
in the valey of Hinnom, could suffice, if we retain the
affection to any one sin, or have any unrepent-
ed of, or unmortilied. It is true, that a contrite and a
broken heart God loill not despise. No, he will not.
For if it be a hearty and permanent sorrow, it is an
excellent beginning of repentance ; and God will to a
timely sorrow give the grace of repentance : He will
not give pardon to sorrow alone ; but that which
ought to be the proper etfect of sorrow, that God
shall give. He shall then open the gates of mercy,
and admit you to a possibility of restitution ; so that

■' Gal. V. 24. \ Gal. Ti. l.*). | Ga]. v. 6. 6 1 Cor. vii. 19.

9S THE INVALIDITY OF A LATB l^evm. V.

you may be within the covenant of repentance,
which ii'you actually perform, you may expect God's
promise. And in this sense confession will obtain our
pardon, and humiliation will be accepted, and our
holy purposes and pious resolution shall be account-
ed for; that is, these being the first steps and address-
es to that part of repentance which consists in the
abolition of sins, shall be accepted so far as to procure
so much of the pardon, to do so much of the work
of restitution, that God will admit the returning man
to a further defp-ce of emendation, to a nearer possi-
bility of working out his salvation. But then, if this
sorrow and confession, and these strong purposes be^
gin then when our life is declined towards the west,
and is now ready to set in darkness and a dismal
night ; because of themselves they could but procure
an admission to repentance, not at all to pardon and
plenary absolution, by shewing that on our death-bed
these are too late and inciTectual, they call upon us
to begin betimes, when these imperfect acts may be
consummate and perfect, in the actual performing
those parts of holy life to which they were ordained
in the nature of the thing, and the purposes of God.
4. Lastly, suppose all this be done, and that by a
long course of strictness and severity, mortitication
and circumspection, we have overcome all our vicious
and baser habits contracted and grown upon us like
the ulcers and evils of a long surfeit, and that we are
clean and swept ; suppose that he hath wept and
fasted, prayed and vowed to excellent purposes; yet
all this is but the one half of repentance : (so infi-
nitely mistaken is the world, to think any thing to
be enough to make up repentance.) But to renew us,
and restore us to the favour of God, there is required
far more than what hath been yet accounted for.
See in the 2d. of St. Peter^ 1 chap. 4, 5. vers. Hav-
ing escaped the corruption that is in the ivorld through

Serm. V. or death-bed repentance. ft?

lust: Jlnd besides this^ giving all diligence^ add to your
faith virtue^ to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temper-
ance, to temperance patience, and so on, to godliness, to
brotherly-kindness, and to charity : These things must
be in you and abound. This is the sum total of re-
pentance : we must not only have overcome sin, but
we must after great dihgence have acquired the ha-
bits of all those christian graces which are necessary
in the transaction of our aliairs, in all relations to God
and our neighbour, and our own persons. It is not
enough to say. Lord, I thank thee, I am no extortioner,
no adulterer, not as this pvblican ; all the reward of
such a penitent is, that when he hath escaped the cor-
ruption of the worhl, he hath also escaped those heavy
judgments which threatened his ruin,

Nee fiirtnni feci, nee fiigi, si mihi dicat
Servus : llabes pretiiiin ; loris non iireris, aio.
Non hominem occidi : Non pasces in eiuce eorvos.*

If a servant have not robbed his master, nor offered
to fly from his bondage, he shall escape theyw/T«, his
flesh shall not be exposed to birds or fishes ; but this
is but the reward of innocent slaves. It may be, we
have escaped the rod of the exterminating angel,
when our sins are crucified ; but we shall never enter
into the joy of the Lord, unless after we hdiye put off
the old man with his affections and lusts, we also put
on the neiv man in righteousness and holiness of life.
And this we are taught in most plain doctrine by
St. Paul. Let us lay aside the weight that doth so

* Hor : Ep. xvi. 46,
Suppose a slave should say, "[ never steal,"
" I never ran away." Nor do you feel
The flagrant lash. " No human blood I shed."
Nor on the cross the ravening crows have fed.

VOL. H. 14

®8 THE INVALIDITY OF A LATE Sevm. V.

easily beset us;* that is the one l.alf; and then it
follows, Let vs run tviih patience the race that is set
before us. Those are the fruits meet for repentance,
spoken of by St. John the Ba})tist ; that is, when we
renew our first undertaking in baptism, and return
to our courses of innocence.

Parous Dcornm ciiltor et infrequens,
Insaiiienlis dum sapitntiae

Consulhis eno, nnnc retror^iira
Vela dare, atque iterare cursiis

Cogor relictosf

The sense of which words is well e^iven us by St.
John; Remember whence thou art fallen^ repent, and
do thy first works.X For all our hopes of heaven
rely upon that covenant which God made with us in
baptism ; whi( h is, That being redeemed from our
vain conversation^ we should serve him in holiness and
righteousness all our days. Now when any of us hath
prevaricated our part of the covenant, we must
return to that state, and redeem the intermedial
time spent in sin by our doubled industry in the
ways of grace: we must be reduced to our first
estate, and make some proportionable returns of
duty, for our sad omissions, and great violations of
our baptismal vow. For God having made no coven-
ant with us but that which is consigned in baptism ;

* Heb. xii. 1.
f Hor : Lib : 1. (>d : xxxiv. 1.
A fugitive from Heaven and prayer,
I inook'd at all religious fear,
Deep-scienced in the mazy lore
Of mad philosopliy ; but now
Hoist sail, and back ray voyage plow
To that blest liarbour, which I left before.

Francis.
X Rev, ii.

Serm. V. or death-bed repent4Nce. 99

in the same proportion in which we retain or return
to that, in the same we are to expect the pardon ot*
our sins, and all the other promises evangehcal ;
hut no otherwise : unless we can shew a new gos-
pel, or be ha[)tized again by God's appointment.
He therefore, that by a long habit, by a state and
continued course ot sin, hath gone so far from his
baptismal purity, as that he hath nothing of the
christian left upon him but his name; that man hath
much to do to make his garments clean, to purify
his soul, to take off all the stains of sin, that his
spirit may be presented pure to the eyes of God,
who beholds no impurity. It is not an easy thing to
cure a long contracted habit of sin. Let any intem-
perate person but try in his own instance of drunk-
enness; or the swearer in the sweetening his un-
wholesome language : but then so to command his
tongue that he never swear, but that his speech be
prudent, pious, and apt to edify the hearer, or in
some sense to glorify God ; or to become temperate,
to have got a habit of sobriety, or chastity, or humi-
lity, is the work of a life. And if we do but consider
that he that lives well from his younger years, or
takes up at the end of his youthful heats, and enters
into the courses of a sober life early, diligently and
vigorously, shall find himself after the studies and
labours of twenty or thirty years piety but a very
imperfect person, many degrees of pride left un-
rooted up, many inroads of intemperance or begin-
nings of excess, much indevotion and backwardness
in religion, many temptations to contest against, and
some infirmities which he shall never say he hath
mastered ; we shall find the work of a holy life is
not to be deferred till our days are almost done,
till our strengths are decayed, our spirits are weak,
and our lust strong, our habits confirmed, and our
longings after sin many and impotent ; for what is

iOO THE IiWALlDITY OK A LATE Serm. VI.

very hard to be done, and is always done imperfectly,
when there is length of time, and a less work to do,
and more abilities to do it with all ; when the time
is short, and almost expired, and the work made
difficult and vast, and the strength weaker, and the
faculties are disabled, will seem little less than ab-
solutely impossible. I shall end this general con-
sideration with the question of the apostle, If the
ri<j;hfeoris scarce^ be saved^ (if it be so difficult to over-
come our sins, and obtain virtuous habits, difficult
(I say) to a righteous, a sober and well-living per-
son) where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?
"what shall become of him who, by his evil life, hath
not only removed himself from the affections, but
even from the possibilities of virtue ? He that hath
lived in sin, will die in sorrow.

SERMON VI.

PART II.

But I shall pursue this great and necessary
truth, first, by shewing what parts and ingredients
of repentance are assigned, when it is described in
holy scripture : secondly, by shewing the necessities,
the absolute necessities of a holy life, and what it
means in scripture to live holily : thirdly, by con-
sidering what directions or intimations we have con-
cerning the last time of beginning to repent ; and
Avhat is the longest period that any man may ven-
ture with safety. And in the prosecution of these
particulars, we shall remove the objections, those
aprons of fig-leaves which men use for their shelter

Senn. VI. or death-bed repentance. 101

to palliate their sin, and to hide themselves from that
from which no rocks or mountains shall protect them,
though they fall upon them ; that is, the wrath of
God.

First, that repentance is not only an abolition
and extinction of the body of sin, a bringing it to the
altar, and slaying it betore God and all the people;
but that we must also ^^fuo-ov Kioua-i Tr^^fxe^uv, mingle gold and
rich presents, the oblation of good works and holy
habits, ivith the sacrifice^ I have already proved : but
now if we will see repentance in its stature and in-
tegrity of constitution described, we shall find it to
be the one half of all that which God requires of
christians. Faith and Repentance ave ihc \w\\o\e duiy
of a christian. Faith is a sacrifice of the understand-
ing to God ; repentance sacrifices the whole will :
that gives the knowing ; this gives up all the desiring
faculties: that makes us disciples; this makes us ser-
vants of the holy Jesus. Nothing else was preached
by the apostles, nothing w^as enjoined as the duty of
man, nothing else did build up the body of christian
religion. So that, as faith contains all that know-
ledge which is necessary to salvation: so repentance
comprehends in it all the whole practice and working
duty of a returning christian. And this was the sum
total of all that St. Paul preached to the Gentiles,
when, in his farewell sermon to the bishops and
priests of Ephesus^ he professed that he kept back
nothing that ivas profitable to them ; and yet it was all
nothing but this, Repentance toivards God, and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ.* So that whosoever be-
lieves In Jesus Christ and repents towards God, must
make his accounts according to this standard, tiiat Is,
to believe all that Christ taught him, and to do ail
that Christ commanded. And this is remarked in
St. Fa2d\'i catechism,"!" where he gives a more parti-

* Acts XX. 21. t Heb. vi. 1.

102 THE iNVALiDixr OF A LATE Ser7n. VI.

cular catalogue of fundamentals : he reckons nothing
but sacraments, and faith ; of which he enumerates
two principal articles, Resurrection of the dead, and
eternal Judgment. Whatsoever is practical, all the
whole dutj of man, the practice of all obedience is
caWed Repentance from dead ivorks : which, if we ob-
serve the singularity of the phrase, does not mean
sorrow, for sorrow from dead works is not sense;
but it must mean mutationem status, a conversion
from dead works, which (as in all motions) supposes
two terms; from dead works to living works; from the
death of sin, to the life of righteousness.

I will add but two places more, out of each testa-
ment one ; in which I suppose, jou may see every
lineament of this great duty described, that you may
no longer mistake a grasshopper for an eagle ; sor-
row and holy purposes, for the entire duty of repent-
ance. In the xviii. of Ezek. 21. you shall find it thus
described: '•^ But if the wicked will turn from all his
sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and
do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he
shall not die.'''' Or, as it is more fully described in
Ezek. xxxiii, 14. " When I say unto the ivicked^
Thou shalt surely die : If he turn from his sin, and do
that v)hich is lawful and right; If the wicked restore
the pledge, give again that he hath robbed, walk in the
statutes of life without committing iniquity ; he shall
surely live, he shall not die.'''' Here only is the con-
dition of pardon; to leave all your sins, to keep all
God's statutes, to walk in them, to abide, to proceed,
and make progress in them; and this, without the
interruption by a deadly sin, [icithout com7nitti?ig
iniquity] to make restitution of all the vviongs he hath
done, ail the unjust money he hath taken, all the op-
pressions he hath committed, all that must be satis-
fied for, and repayed according to our ability : we
must make satisfaction for all injury to our neigh-

Serm. VI. oh death-bed repentance. 103

bour's fame, all wrono^s done to his soul ; he must be
restored to that condition of oood thiiij^s ihou didst
in any sense remove liim from : when this is done
according to thy utmost [)ower, thf^n thou hast repent-
ed truly, then thou hast a title to the promise ; thou
shah surely live, ihou shall not die for thy old sins thou
hast formerly committed. Only be pleased to ob-
serve this one thin^i;; that this place of /L,'2eZ:?W is it
which is so oiten mistaken for that common say in j^,
r^t what time soever a sinner repents him of his sins
from the bottom of his hearty I will put all his wickedness
out of my remembrance^ suith tJie Lord. For although
at what time soever a sinner does repent^ as (repentance
is now explained) God will tbigive him, and that re-
pentance as it is now stated cannot be done [ctt what
titne soever.,] not upon a man's death-bed ; yet there
are no such words in the whole bible, ncir any nearer
to the sense of them, than the vvoids I have now read
to you out of the prophet Ezekiel. Let that there-
fore no more deceive you, or be made a colour to
countenance a persevering sinner, or a death-bed
penitent.

Neither is the duty of repentance to be bought at an
easier rate in the New Testament. You may see it
described in the 2 Cor. vii. 10, 1 1. Godly sorrow work-
eth repentance. Well ? but what is that repentance
which is so wrought? This it is: Behold this self-same
thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort^ what careful-
ness it wrought in you., yea ivhat clearing of yourselves,
yea., what indignation ; yea ivhat fear., yea what vehe-
ment desire., yea., what zeaU yea what revenge. These
are the fruits of that sorrow that is effectual ; these
are the parts of repentance : clearing ourselves of all
that is past, and great carefulness for the future ; anger
at ourselves for our old sins, m\dfear lest we commit
the like again ; vehement desires of pleasing God, and
zealoi holy actions, and a rcye/i^'-c upon ourselves for

10-1 THE IKVALIDITT OP A LATE Sefm. VL

pur sins, called by Saint Paw/, in another place, a
judging ourselves^ lest we be judged of the Lord.* And
in pursuance of this truth, the prisnitive church did
not admit a sinning person to the publick communions
witii t!ie faithful, till besides their sorrow they had
spent some years in an a-yx^Kgyi^ in doing good works,
and holy living; and especially in such actions which
did contradict that wicked inclination which led them
into those sins whereof they were now admitted to
repent. And therefore we find that they stood in
the station of penitents, seven years, thirteen years,
and sometimes till their death, before they could be
reconciled to the peace of God, and his holy church.

Scelerum si bene poeuitet,

Eradenda ciipidinis

Pravi sunt eleraenta ; et tenerae nimis
Mentes asperioribus

Formandae studiis f

Repentance is the institution of a philosophical and
severe life, an utter extirpation of all unreasonable^iess
and impiety, and an address to, and a final passing
through all the parts of holy living.

Now consider whether this be imaginable or pos-
sible to be done upon our death-bed, when a man is
frighted into an involuntary, a sudden, and unchosen

piety. 'O lUeravoav, ou <poQ(i> Tirv tvMriaiv tuv tou xaxou t/>*^/v a/gnTirsu,

saith Hierocles.X He that never repents till a violent
fear be upon him, till he apprehend himself to be in the

* 1 Cor. xi. 31.
f Hor. Lib. iii, Od. xxiv. 1.

If you indeed your crimes detest,

Tear forth, uprooted from the youthful breast,

The seeds of each depraved desire,

While manly toils a firmer soul inspire.

\ Hierocles. » /« fxCfnix ctulu <^/^o3-o^/!<f np^n ymTut, ^ tw mwrm if.'cfv
Tt y, Koym'i *yv«, y, txc «t,usTay.iA«Tci!/ (Jaw » Trpu- tii Trx^it.a-Ktvii, See Jjlle 01 U.
Jesus, pt. 2 . Disc, of ilepentance.

Serin. VI. or death-bed bepentaptch. \Qit

jaws of death, ready to give up his unready and un-
prepared accounts, till he sees the judge sitting in all
the addicsses of dreadfulness and majesty, just now
(as he believes) ready to pronounce that fearful and
intolerable sentence of, Go ye cursed into everlasting
fire ; this man docs notliing for the love of God,
nothing for the love of virtue: it is just as a con-
demned man repents that he was a traitor; but re-
pented not till he was arrested, and sure to die : such
a repentance as this may still consist with as great an
affection to sin as ever he had ; and it is no thanks to
him, if, when the knife is at his throat, then he gives
good words and flatters. But suppose this man in liis
health and the midst of all his lust, it is evident that
there are some circumstances of action in which the
man would have refused to commit his most pleasing
sin. Would not the son of Tarquin have refused to
ravish Liicrcce^ if Junius Brutus had been by him ?
Would the impurest person in the world act his lust
in the market place ? or dnnk off an intemperate
goblet, if a dagger wore placed at his throat f In these
circumstances their fear would moke them declare
against the present acting their impurities. But does
this cure the intemperance of their affections ? Let
the impure person retire to his closet, and Junius
Brutus be engaged in a far distant war, and the dag-
ger be taken from the drunkai d's throat, and the fear
of shame, or death, or judgment be taken from them
all; and they shall no more resist their temptation,
than they could before remove their fear: and 3011
may as well judge the other persons holy, and haters
of their sin, as the man upon his death-bed to be
penitent; and rather they than he, by how much this
man's fear, the fear of death, and of the infinite pains
of hell, the fear of a provoked God, and an angry
eternal Judge, are far greater than the appiehen-
sions of a publick shame, or an abused husband, or

VOL II. 15

106 CPHla INVALIDITY OF A LATE StVm. VI,

the poignard of an angry person.* These men then
sin not, because they dare not ; they are frighted
from the act, but not from the alfection, which is not
to be cured but by discourse, and reasonable acts,
and human considerations; of which that man is not
naturally capable who is possessed with the greatest
fear, the fear of death and damnation. If there had
been time to cure his sin, and to live the life of grace,
1 deny not but God might have begun his conver-
sion with so great a fear, that he should never have
wiped off its impression :t but if the man dies then,
dies when he only declaims against, and curses his
sin, as being the author of his present fear and ap-
prehended calamity ; it is very far from reconciling
him to God or hopes of pardon, because it proceeds
from a violent, unnatural and intolerable cause ; no
act of choice, or virtue, but of sorrow, a deserved
sorrow, and a miserable, unchosen, unavoidable fear.

raoriensque recepit

Qiias nollet victurus aquas {

He curses sin upon his death-bed, and makes a pane-
gyrick of virtue which in his life-time he accounted
folly, and trouble, and needless vexation.

Quae mens est liodie, cur eadem non puero fuit?
Vel cur his animis incolnmes non redeunt genae ? ^

* Cogiraur a suetis aninnuiQ suspendere rebus ;

Atque ut vivamus, vivere desiniinus. Cornel. Gal.

In pious fear of Heaven's avenging rod

We die to pleasure, and we live to God. A.

f Nee ad rem pertinet ubi iuciperet, quod placuerat ut fieret.

I And dying quaffed, what living he had scorned. A.

§ Hor. Lib. iv. Od. x. 7.

Why were the charms of youth consign'd

In vain profusion to so proud a mind ?

Or why, since now that pride is o'er,

W'lW youth, with all its charms, return no more ?

DCNCOMBE.

Serm* VI. or. DEATH-BfiD REPENTANCE. 107

I shall end this first consideration with a plain ex-
hortation; that since repentance is a duty of so great
and giant-like bulk, let no man crowd it up into so
narrow room, as that it be strangled in its birth for
want of time and air to breath in : let it not be put
olf to that time when a man hath scarce time enouji^h
to reckon all those particular duties which make up
the integrity of its constitution. Will any man hunt
the wild boar in his garden, or bait a bull in his closet?
Will a woman wrap her child in her handkerchief, or
a father send his son to school when he is fifty years
old ? These are indecencies of providence, and the
instrument contradicts the end : and this is our case.
There is no room for the repentance, no time to act
all its essential parts : and a child, who hath a great
"way to go before he be wise, may defer his studies,
and hope to become learned in his old age, and upon
his death-bed ; as well as a vicious person may think
to recover from all his ignorances and prejudicate
opinions, from all his false principles and evil cus-
toms, from his wieked inclinations and ungodly habits,
from his fondnesses of vice and detestations of virtue,
from his promptness to sin and unwillingness to
grace, from his spiritual deadness and strong sen-
suality, upon his death-bed (I say,) when he hath no
natural strength and as little spiritual, when he is
criminal and impotent, hardened in his vice, and soft
in his fears, full of passion and empty of wisdom,
when he is sick and amazed, and timorous and con-
founded, and impatient, and extremely miserable.

And now when any of you is tempted to commit
a sin, remember that sin will ruin you, unless you re-
pent of it. But this (you say) is no news, and so
far from afTrighting you from sin, that (God knows)
it makes men sin the rather. For therefore they
venture to act the present temptation, because they
knowjifthey repent, God will forgive them; and

108 THE INVALIDITY OP A LiTE SVrWl. VL

therefore they resolve upon both, to sin now, and
repent hereafter.

Against this folly 1 shall not oppose the conside-
ration of their danger, and that they neither know
how long they shall live, nor whether they shall die
or no in this \ery act of sin ; though this considera-
tion is very material, and if they should die in
it, or before it is washed otT, they perish : but I con-
sider these things. 1. That he that resolves to sin
upon a resolution to repent, by every act of sin makes
himself more incapable of repenting, by growing
more in love with sin, by remembering its pleasures,
by serving it once more, and losing one degree more
of the liberty of our spirit. And if you resolve to
sin now, because it is pleasant, how do you know that
your appetite will alter .^^ Will it not appear pleasant
to you next week, and the next week after that, and so
forever? And still you sin, and still you wiU repent;
that is, you will repent when the sin can please you
no longer: for so long as it can please you, so long
you are tempted not to repent, as well as now to act
the sin : and the longer you lie in it, the more you
will iove it. So that it is in effect to say, I love my
sin now, but I will hereafter hate it; only 1 will act
it a while longer, and grow more in love with it, and
then I will repent ; that is, then I will be sure to hate
it wiien ( shall most love it. 2. To repent signifies
to be sorrowful, to be ashamed, and to wish it had
never been done. And then see the folly of this
temptation : I would not sin, but that I hope to re-

}Dent of it ; that is, I would not do this thing, but that I
lope to be sorrowful for doing it- and I hope to come
to shame for it, heartily to be ashamed of my doings,
and i hope to be in that condition, that I would give
all the world I had never done it; that is, I hope to
feel and apprehend an evil infinitely greater than the
pleasures of ray sin. And are these arguments fit to
move a man to sin ? What can affright a man from

Serm. VI. or nEATH-BED repentance. 109

it, if these invite him to it ? It is as if a man should in-
vite one to be a partner o( his treason by telhng- him,
if yoa will join with me, jou shall have all these
etfects by it; you shall be handed, drawn and (juar-
tered, and your blood shall be corrupted, and your
estate forfeited, and you shall have many other rea-
sons to wish you had never done it. He that should
use this 1 hetorick in earnest miirht well be accounted
a mad man ; this is to scare a man, not to allure him:
and so is the other wlien we understand it truly. 3.
Foi" \ consider, he that repents, wislies he had never
done that sin. Now 1 ask, does he wish so upon rea-
son, or without reason ? Surely, if he may, when he
hath satisfied his lust, ask God pardon, and be ad-
mitted upon as easy terms for the time to come as if
he had not done the sin, he hath no reason to be sor-
rowful, or wish he had not done it. For though he
hath done it, and pleased himself by enjoying the plea-
sure of sin for that season., yet all is well again; and
let him only be careful now, and there is no hurt done,
his pardon is certain. How can any man that un-
derstands the reason of his actions and passions wish,
that he had never done that sin in which then he
had pleasure, and now he feels no worse inconve-
nience. But he that truly repents, wishes, and would
give all the world, he had never done it. Surely
then his present condition in respect of his past
sin hath some very great evil in it, why else should
he be so much troubled? True, and this it is. He
that hath committed sins after baptism is fallen out
of the favour of God, is tied to hard duty for the
time to come, to cry vehemently unto God. to call
night and day for pardon, to be in great fear and
tremblings of heart, lest God should never for-
give him, lest God will never take off his sentence of
eternal pains ; and in this fear and in some degrees
of it he will remain all the days of his life : and if he

110 THE INVALtDITT OP A LATE &er7n. VL

hopes to be quit of that, yet he knows not how many
degrees of God's an^er still hanj^ over his head :
how many sad miseries shall afllict, and burn, and
purify him in this world with a sharpness so poignant
as to divide the marrow from the bones; and for
these reasons, as a considering man that knows what
it is to repent, wishes with his soul he had never sin-
ned, and therefore grieves in propoition to his former
crimes, and present misery, and future danger.

And now suppose that you can repent when you
will, that is, that you can grieve when you will,
(though no man can do it, no man can grieve when
he please ; though he could shed tears when he list,
he cannot grieve without a real or apprehended infe-
licity ; but, suppose it) and that he can fear when
he please, and that he can love when he please, or
what he please ; that is, suppose a man be able to
say to his palate, Though I love sweet-meats, yet to-
morrow will I hate and loath them, and believe them
bitter and distasteful things ; suppose (I say) all
these impossibilities: yet since repentance does sup-
pose a man to be in a state of such real misery, that
he hath reason to curse the day in which he sinned,
is this a fit argument to invite a man that is in his
wits to sin ? to sin in hope of repentance ? as if dan-
ger of falling into hell, and fear of the divine anger,
and many degrees of the divine judgments, and a
lasting sorrow, and a perpetual labour, and a never-
ceasing trembling, and a troubled conscience, and a
sorrowful spirit, were fit things to be desired or hoped
for.

The sum is this : He that commits sins shall perish
eternally, if he never does repent. And if he does
repent, and yet untimely, he is not the better; and
if he does not repent with an entire, a perfect and
complete repentance, he is not the better. But if he
does, yet repentance is a duty full of fears, and sor-

Serm. VI. or death-bed repentance. Ill

row, and labour : a vexation to the spirit ; an afflictive,
penal, or punitive duty ; a duty which suffers for sin,
and labours for grace, which abides and suffers little
imaii^es of hell in the way to heaven : and though it
be the only way to felicity, yet it is beset with thorns
and daffffers of sufferance, and with locks and moun-
tains of duty. Let no man, therefore, dare to sin
upon the hopes of repentance : for he is a fool and a
hypocrite, that now chooses and approves what he
knows hereafter he must condemn.

2. The second general consideration is, The neces-
sity, the absolute necessity of holy living. God hath
made a covenant with us, that we must give up our-
selves, bodies and souls, not a dying, but a living and
healthful sacrifice* He hath forgiven all our old
sins, and we have bargained to quit them, from the
time that we first come to Christ, and give our names
to him, and to keep all his commandments. We have
taken the sacramental oath, like that of the old i?o-

TtlCtn lYlllltlCl^ 7rub'Xgx.-A(THv, 4 TOina-iiv to cTgoa-TarTc.wsiiiv t/Vo tw at'j;^ov'ra)V kato.

fwi.utv, we must believe^ and obeij, and do all that is
comma7ided us, and keep our station, and fight against
the flesh, the world, and the devil, not to tfirow away
our military girdle; and we are to do what is bidden
ns^ or to die for it, even all that is bidden us^accordin^
to our poioer. For, pretend not that God's command-
ments are impossible. It is dishonourable to think
God enjoins us to do more than he enables us to ; and
it is a contradiction to say we camiot do all that we
can ; and fhrotisrh Christ which sireno-thens me I can do
all things^ saith St. Paid. However, we can do to
the utmost of our strength, and bevond that we can-
not take thought; impossibilities enter not into delibe-
ration; but according to our abilities and natural
powers, assisted by God's grace, so God hath covc-

''^Rom. xii. 1.

112 THE iNrALiDiTY OF A LATE Serm. VL

nan ted with us to live a holy life. For in Christ
Jesus nothing availeth but a new creature^ nothing but
faith working by charity^ nothing but keeping the com-
mandments of God. They are all the words of St.
Paul before quoted ; to which he adds, And as many
as walk according to this rule., peace be on them and
mercy. This is the covenant, they are the Israel of
God, upon those peace and mercy shall abide. If
they become a new creature, wholly transformed in
the image of their mind ; if they have faith, and diis
faith be an operative, working faith, a faith that pro-
duces a holy hfe, ?l faith that works by charity -, if they
keep the commandments of God^ then they are within
the covenant of mercy, but not else : for in Christ
Jesus nothing else availeth. To the same purpose are
those words, Heb. xii. 1 4. Follow peace with all men,
and holiness., vnthout ivhich no man shall see the Lord,
Peace ivith all men implies both justice and charity,
without which it is impossible to preserve peace :
Holiness implies all our duty towards God, universal
diligence : and this must he followed^ that is, pursued
"with diligence, in a lasting course of life and exer-
cise: and without this we shall never see the face of
God. I need urge no more authorities to this pur-
pose ; these two are as certain and convincing as two
thousand: And since thus much is actually required,
and is the condition of the covenant: it is certain that
sorrow for not having^ done what is commanded to be
done, and a purpose to do what is necessary to be
actually performed, will not acquit us before the
righteous judgment of God. " For the grace of God
hath appeared to all men, teaching us., that denying un-
godliness and wordly lusts, we should live godly, justly,
and soberly in this present world.''''* For upon these
terms alone we must look for the blessed hope, the

*Tit.ii. 11, 12.

Serm. Vl. or death-bed repentanck. 113

glorious appear i II (j^ of ihe great God^ and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. 1 shall no longer insist upon this par-
ticular, but ouly [)ropound it to your consideration.
To what purpose are all those commandments in
sciipture, of every page almost in it, oi' living holili/y
and according to ihe commandments of God, of
adorning the gospel of God., oiivalking as in the dot/, of
walking in light, o{ pure and mid cf led religion., of being
holji as God is holt/, of being humble and meek as Christ
is humble^ oi putting on the Lord Jesus, oi living a spi-
ritual life, but that it is the purpose of God, and the
intention and design of Christ dyiitg for us, and the
covenant made with man, that we should expect hea-
ven upon no other terms in the world, but of a holy
hfe, in the faith and obedience of the Lord Jesus f

Now if a vicious person, when he comes to the
latter end of his days, one that hath lived a wicked,
ungodly lite, can for any thing he can do upon his
death-bed be said to live a holy life; then his hopes
are not desperate : but he that hopes upon this only,
for which God hath made him no promise, I must say
of him as Galen said of consumptive persons, w«-a«v
£X7r;>buo-<v TatuTM (UAxxov, »oex»c (X'^ufh The more they hope, the ivorse
they are : and the relying upon such hopes is an ap-
proach to the grave, and a sad eternity.

Peleos et Priami transit, vel Nestoris aetas,

Kt fiierat serum jam tibi desinere.
Eja age, ruinpe moras ; quo te spectabimus usque ?

Duni quid sis dubitas, jam potes esse nihil.*

*Mart. Lib. I!. Ep. 64.
Peleus and Priam, Nestor, nouglit could save ;

Hoary with years, canst thou escape the grave ?
Delay no more, delusive hope resign :
Will Death, who spares no life, abstain from thine ? A.
VOL. II. 16

114 THK i!N\ ALiorrjr OF A LATE Scrm- VI.

And now it will be a vain question to ask, Whether
or no God cannot save a dying man that repents
after a vicious life. For it is true, God can do it if
he please, and he can raise children to Abraham out
of the stones^ and he can make ten thousand worlds,
if he sees good, and he can do what he list, and he
can save an ill-living man though he never repent at
all, so much as upon his death-bed : All this can he
do. But God's power is no ingredient into this
question : we are never the better that God can do it,
unless he also will : and whether he will or no, we
are to learn from himself, and what he hath declared
to be his will in holy scripture. Nay, since God hath
said, that without actual holiness no man shall see God,
God by his own will hath restrained his power : and
though absolutely he can do all things, yet he cannot
do against his own word. And indeed the rewards
of heav^en are so great and glorious, and Christ's
burthen is so lights his yoke is so easy., that it is a shame-
less impudence to expect so great glories at a less
rate than so little a service, at a loAver rate than a
holv life. It cost the eternal Son of God his life-blood
to obtain heaven for us upon that condition: and
who then shall die ao;ain for us, to o-et heaven for us
upon easier conditions ? What would you do, if God
should command you to kill your eldest son, or to
work in the mines for a thousand years together, or
to fast all thy life-time with bread and water ? were
not heaven a great bargain even after all this ? And
when God requires nothing of us but to live soberly,
justly, and godly, (which very things of themselves
to men are a very great felicity, and necessary to his
present well-being) shall we think tliis to be a load,
and an unsuuerable burthen? and that heaven is so
little a purchase at that price, that God in mere jus-
tice will take a death-bed sigh or groan, and a few
unprolitable tears and promises, in exchange for all

Serm. VI. or death-bed repentance. 113

our duty? Strange it should be so: but stranger,
that any man should rely upon such a vanity, when
from God's word lie hath nothinir to warrant such a
confidence. But these men do like the tyrant Dio-
nijsius^ who stole from Jipollo his golden cloak, and
gave him a cloak o( Jlrcadian home-spun, saying that
this was lighter in summer, and warmer in winter.
These men sacrilegiously rob God of the service of
all their golden days, and serve him in their hoary
head, in their furs and grave-cloaths, and pretend
that this late service is more agreeable to the divine
mercy on one side, and human infirmity on the other,
and so dispute themselves into an irrecoverable con-
dition; having no other ground to rely upon a death-
bed or late-begun repentance, but because they re-
solve to enjoy the pleasures of sin; and for heaven
they will put that to the venture of an after-game.
These men sow in the flesh and would reap in the-
spirit ; live to the devil, and die to God ; and there-
fore it is but just in God that their hopes should be
desperate, and their craft be folly, and their condition
be the unexpected, unfearcd inheritance of an eternal
sorrow.

3. Lastly. Our last inquiry is into the time, the
last or latest time of beginning our repentance. Must
a man repent a year, or two, or seven years, or ten,
or twenty before his death } or what is the last period
after which all repentance will be untimely and inef-
fectual } To tliis captious question I have many
things to oppose. 1. We have entered into cove-
nant with God, to serve him from the day of our bap-
tism to the day of our death. He hath '''' sworn this
oath to us. That he would grant tmto tis, that ive being
delivered from, fear of our enemies, might serve him
without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him.,
all the days of our life.'''* Now although God will

* Luke i. 73, 74.

116 THE INVALIDITT OP A LATE SeVtn. VL

not Tw stv9-j3»T«vw inoivm cttr^ivtictt ivixa.v^a.ncr^a.1^ forget OUT infirmi-
ties, but pass by the weaknesses of an honest, a
watchful and industrious person; jet the covenant
he makes with us is from the day of our first volun-
tary profession to our grave ; arid according as we
by sins retire from our first undertaking, so our con-
dition is insecure : there is no other covenant made
with us, no new beginnings of another period; but
if we be returned, and sin be cancelled, and grace
be actually obtained, then we are in the first condi-
tion of pardon : but because it is uncertain when a
man can have mastered his vices, and obtained the
graces, therefore no man can tell any set time when
he must begin. 2. Scripture describing the duty of
repenting sinners, names no other time but to-day.
To-day if ye idUI hear his voice^ harden not your hearts.
3. The duty of a christian is described in scripture to
be such as requires length of time, and a continued
industry. Let us run with patience the race that is
set before us : and consider him, that endured suck
contradiction of sinners a/j^ainst himself lest ye be tvea'
ried^ and faint in your minds.* So great a prepara-
tion is not for the agony and contention of an hour,
or a day, or a week, but for the whole life of a chris-
tian, or for great parts of its abode. 4. There is a
certain period and time set for our repentance, and
beyond that all our industry is ineffectual. There
is a day of visitation^ our oumday : and there is a day
of visitation that h God''s day. This appeared in the
case of Jerusalem ; O Jerusalem., Jernsalem., if ihoii
hadst known the time of thy visitation^ at least in this
thy day. Well, they neglected it; and then there
was a time of God's visitation, which was his day<f
called in scripture /Ac day of the Lord j and because
they had neglected their own day, they fell into
'^r^evitablc ruin ; No repentance could hg-ve preven-

* Heb. xii. 1 and 3.

Serm. VI. or death-bed repentance. 117

ted their final ruin. And this which was true in a
nation, is also clearly aflirmcd true in the case of
single persons. Look diligentbj lest any fail of the
grace of God., lest there be any person among you as
Ksaii.1 who sold his birth-right., and afterwards when
he would have inherited the blessing, he ivas rejected , for
he found no place for his repentance., though he sought
it carefully with tears.* Esau had time enough to
repent his bargain as long as he lived ; he v^ept
sorely for his folly, and carefulness sat heavy upon
his soul ; and yet he was not heard, nor his repen-
tance accepted : for the time was past. And take
heed., saith the apostle, lest it come to pass to any of
you to be in the same case. Now if ever there be a
time in which repentance is too late, it must be the
time ot our death-bed, and the last time of our life.
And after a man is fallen into the displeasure of
Almighty God, the longer he lies in his sin without
repentance and emendation, the greater is his danger,
and the more of his allowed time is spent : and no
man can antecedently, or before-hand, be sure that
the time of his repentance is not past; and those
who neglect the call of God, and refuse to hear him
call in the day of grace, God icill laugh at them when
their calamity comes : they shall call., and the Lord shcdl
not hea? them. And this was the case ot" the five
foolish virgins when the arrest of death surpiised
them : They discovered their want of oil, they were
troubled at it ; they begged oil, they were refused ;
they did something towards the procuring of the oil
of grace, (for they went out to buy oil:) and after
all this stir the bridegroom came before they had
finished their journey, and they were shut out from
the communion of the biidegroom's joys.

Therefore concerning the time ol" beginning to
repent no man is certain but he that hath done his

* Heb. xii. l-'i, kc.

118 THE INVALIDITY OP A LATE SemU VI.

work. Mortem vementem ?icmo hilaris excipit, nisi qui
se ad earn diu composuerat, said Seneca.* He only
dies cheerfully who stood waiting for death in a
ready dress of a long preceding preparation. He
that repents to day, repents late enough that he did
not begin yesterday : but he that puts it off till to-
morrow is vain and miserable.

hodie jam/Postliume, vivere serum ei>t :

Hie sapit quisquis, Posthume, vixit heri.f

Well ; but what will you have a man do that hath
lived wickedly, and is now cast upon his death-bed ?
shall this man despair, and neglect all the actions of
piety, and the instruments of restitution in his sick-
ness? No, God forbid. Let him do what he can
then ; it is certain it will be little enough : but all
those short gleams of piety and flashes of lightning
will help towards alleviating some degrees of mise-
ry ; and if the man recover, they are good beginnings
of a renewed piety : and ^hab\s tears and humilia-
tion, though it went no farther, had a proportion of
a reward, though nothing to the portions of eternity.
So that he that says, it is every day necessary to
repent, cannot be supposed to discourage the piety
of any day : a death-bed piety, when things are come
to that sad condition, may have many good purpo-
ses : therefore, even then, neglect nothing that can
be done. Well ; but shall such persons despair of
salvation ? To them I shall only return this : that
they are to consider the conditions which on one

* Epis. 30.
t -Mart. Lib. ii. Ep. 90
Repent to morrow ! l)Iest alone the man,
Whose deep coutriliou. ere this day began. A

^SVrm. VI. OR death-bed repentance. 119

side God requires of us; and, on the other side,
■whether thej have done accordingly. Let them
consider upon what terms God hath pronn'sed sal-
vation, and whether they have made themselves
capahle hy performing their pjart of the obligation.
If they have not, I must tell them, that, not to hope
where God hath made no promise, is not the sin of
despair, but the misery of despair. A man hath no
ground to hope that ever he shall be made an angel,
and yet that not hoping Is not to be called despair :
and no man can hope for heaven without repentance;
and for such a man to despair, is not the sin, but the
misery. If such persons have a promise of heaven,
let them shew it, and hope it, and enjoy it : if
they have no promise, they must thank themselves,
for bringing themselves into a condition without
the covenant, without a promise, hopeless and mise-
rable.

But will not trusting in the merits o{ Jesus Christ
save such a man ? For that, we must be tried by
the word of God, in which there is no contract at all
made with a dying person that lived in name a chris-
tian, in practice a heathen : and we shall dishonour
the sulierings and redemption of our blessed Sa-
viour, if we think them to be an imibrella to shelter
our impious and ungodly living. But that no such
person may after a wicked life repose himself on his
death-bed upon Christ's merits, observe but these
two places of Scripture. Our Saviour Jesus Christ
who gav e himself for US * what to do } that we might
live as we list, and hope to be saved by his merits.'*
no, but that he might redeem us from aU iniquity^ and
purify to himself a pecidia) people, zealous of good
works. These things speak and exhort., salth St. Fauly
but more plainly yet in St Peter, Christ bare our sins
in his own body on the frcc,'\ to what end ? that iug

* Titus ii. 14. f 1 Pet. ii. 21.

120 THE INVALIDITY OF A LATE Herlll. VL

being dead unto sin, shoidd live unto righteousness.
Since therefore our living a holy life is the end of
Christ's djitig that sad and holy death for us, he
that trusts on it to evil purposes, and to excuse his*
vicious life, does (as much as lies in him) make void
the very purpose and design of Christ's passion, and
dishonours the blood of the everlasting covenant ;
which covenant was confirmed by the blcod of
Christ : but as it brought peace from God, so it
requires a holy life from us.*

But why may not we be saved as well as the
thief upon the cross ? Even because our case is
nothing alike. When Christ dies once more for us,
we may look for such another instance ; not till then.
But this thief did but then come to Christ, he knew
him not before ; and his case was, as if a Turk or
heathen should be converted to Christianity, and be
baptized, and enter newly into the covenant upon
his death-bed : then God pardons all his sins. And
so God does to christians when they are baptized or
fust give up their names to Christ by a voluntary
confirmation of their baptismal vow : but when they
have once entered into the covenant they must per-
form what tliey promise, and to what they are obli-
ged. The thief had made no contract with God in
Jesus Christ, and therefore failed of none ; only the
defailances of the state of Ignorance Christ paid
for at the thlel's admission : but we that have made
a covenant with God in baptism, and failed of it
all our days, and then return at night whemve cannot
work, have nothing to plead for ourselves, because
we have made all that to be useless to us, which God
with so much mercy and miraculous wisdom gave us
to secure our interest and hopes of heaven.

Knd therefore let no Christian man, who hath
covenanted with God to give him the service of his

•"'' Sec Life of Jesus, Disc, of Repentance, part 2.

S^rm. VI. OR DEATH-BED REPENTANCE. 121'

life, think that God will be answered with the sio;hs
and prayers of a dying man : for all that great obli-
gation which lies upon us cannot be transacted in an
instant, when we have loaded our souls with sin, and
made them empty of virtue ; we cannot so soon grow
lip to a perfect man in Christ Jesus. <'viiv tuv ,wyctKm rt<|.va>
■yivinrtA* You cauuot havc an apple or a cherry, but
you must stay its proper periods, and let it blossom
and knot, and grow and ripen, and in due season ive
shcdl reap^ if ice faint not., (saith the apostle:) Far
much less may we expect that the fruits of repen-
tance and the issues and degrees of holiness shall
be gathered in a few days or hours. >v*,m»c cr'a^atirou

xa/>T;v •&«Xs<c ot/TM <f'(' oKtyw 5 iux.'.Xet>Q Klua-ctBstt ; YoU mUSt not

expect such fruits in a little time, nor with little
labour.

Suffer therefore not yourselves to be deceived by
false principles and vain confidences : for no man
can in a moment root out the long contracted habits
of vice, nor upon his death-bed make use of all
that variety of preventing, accompanying, and per-
severing grace, which God gave to man in mercy,
because man would need it all, because without it
he could not be saved; nor upon his death-bed
can he exercise the duty of mortification, nor cure
his drunkenness then, nor his lust, by any act of
Christian discipline, nor rvn with patience, nor resist
mito blood, nor endure ivith long sufferance; but he
can pray, and groan, and call to God, and resolve
to live well when he is dying. But this is but just
as the nobles of Herxes, when in a storm they were
to lighten the ship to preserve their king's Jife,
they did Trpoo-^uveoi/?*? iTnmS'M s/c tkv s^^tAsta-crctv, thcv did their obei-
sance, and leaped into the sea : so (I fear) do these
men, pray, and mourn, and worship, and so leap
overboard into an ocean of eternal and intolerable

* Arrian, Epictet. 1. 1. c. 15
VOL. If. 17

122 THE INVALIDITY OP A LATE, &C. Semi. VI.

calamity. From which God dehver us, and all faith-
ful people.

Hunc volo laudari qui sine raorte potest.*

Vivere quod propero pauper, nee inutilis annis,

Da veniam ; properat vivere nemo satis.
Differat hoc, patrios optat qui vincere census,

Atriaque inamodicis arctat imaginibus.f

* Martial, Lib. 1.
I praise the unhappy man that dares to live. A.

t Mart. Lib. ii. Ep. 90.

Forgive the fault your soberer years despise,

If poor, I snatch each pleasure as it flies ;

See meaner spirits ray pursuits deride,

The slave of avarice, and the fool of pride. A.

SERMON Vir.

DECEITFULNESS OF THE HEART.

Jeremiah xvii. 9.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; who
can know it ?

Folly and subtllty divide the greatest part of man-
kind; and there is no other ditlerence but this, that
some are crafty enough to deceive, others foohsh
enough to be cozened and abused : and yet the scales
also turn, for they that are the most crafty to cozen
others are the veriest fools, and most of all abuse
themselves. They rob their neighbour of his money,
and lose their own innocency ; they disturb his rest,
and vex their own conscience ; they throw him into
prison, and themselves into hell; they make poverty
to be their brother's portion, and damnation to be
their own. Man entered into the world first alone ;
but as soon as he met with one companion, he met
with three to cozen him: the serpent, and Eve^ and
himself all joined : first to make him a fool and to de-
ceive him, and then to make him miserable. But he
first cozened himself, o-ry«Vjo- himself tip to believe a lie ;
and being desirous to listen to the w hispers of a
tempting spirit, he siniietl before he fell ; that is, he

124 THE DECEiTFULNESs Serm. VII.

had within him a false understanding, and a depraved
will : and these were the parents of his disobedience,
and this was the parent of his infehclty, and a great
occasion of ours. And then it was that he entered
for himself and his posterity into the condition of an
ignorant, credulous, easy, wilful, passionate, and im-
potent person ; apt to be abused, and so loving to
have it so, that if nobody else will abuse him, he will
be sure to abuse himself; by ignorance and evil prin-
ciples being open to an enemy, and by wilfulness
and sensuality doing to himself the most unpar-
donable injuries in the whole world. So that the
condition of man in the rudenesses and first lines of
its visage seems very miserable, deformed, and ac-
cursed.

For a man is helpless and vain ; of a condition so
exposed to calamity, that a raisin is able to kill him;
any trooper out of the Egyptian army, a fly can do it,
when it goes on God's errand ; the most contemptible
accident can destroy him, the smallest chance affright
him, every future contingency, when but considered
as possible, can amaze him ; and he is encompassed
with potent and malicious enemies, subtle and im-
placable : what shall this poor helpless thing do ?
Trust in God? Him he hath offended, and he fears
him as an enemy ; and God knows, if we look only
on ourselves, and on our own demerits, we have too
much reason so to do. Shall he rely upon princes ?
God help poor kings; they rely upon their subjects,
they fight with their swords, levy force with their
money, consult with their councils, hear with their
ears, and are strong only in their union, and many
times they use all these things against them : but,
however, they can do nothing without them while they
live, and yet if ever they can die they are not to be
trusted to. Now kings and princes die so sadly and
noioriously, that it was used for a proverb in holy

Serm. VII. of the heart. 12^

Scripture, Ye shall die like men., and fall like one of the
princes. Who tlien shall we trust in ? In our friend ?
Poor man! he may help tliee in one thing, and
need thee in ten : he may pull thee out of the
ditch, and his foot may slip and fall into it him-
self: he o'ives thee counsel to chuse a wife, and
himself is to seek how prudently to chuse his reli-
gion : he counsels thee to abstain from a duel, and
yet slays his own soid with drinkincr: like a per-
son void of all understanding^, he is willinG^enou2:h to
preserve thy interest, and is very careless of his own;
lor he does highly despise to betray or to be false to
thee, and in tlie mean time is not his own friend, and
is false to God ; and then his friendship may be use-
ful to thee in some circumstances of fortune, but no
security to thy condition. But what then ? shall
we rely upon our patron, hke the Roman clients,
who waited hourly upon their persons, and daily upon
their baskets, and nightly upon their lusts, and mar-
ried their friendships, and contracted also their ha-
tred and quarrels? this is a confidence will deceive
us. For they may lay us by, justly or unjustly ; they
may grow weary of doing benefits, or their fortunes
may change ; or they may be charitable in their gifts,
and burthensome in their offices ; able to feed you,
but unable to counsel you; or your need may be
longer than tlieir kindnesses, or such in which they
can give you no assistance : and indeed, generally, it is
so in all the instances of men. We have a friend that
is wise ; but I need not his counsel, but his meat : or my
patron is bountiful in his largesses; but I am troubled
■with a sad spirit; and money and presents do me no
more ease than perfumes do to a broken arm. We
seek life of a physician that dies, and go to him for
health who cannot cure his own breath or gout; and
so become vain in our imaginations, abused in our
hopes, restless in our passions, impatient in our ca-
lamity, unsupported in our need, exposed to our ene-

126 THE DECEITFULNES8 Semi. VlL

mies, wandering and wild, without counsel, and with-
out remedy. At last, after the infatuating and de-
ceiving all our confidences without, we have nothing
left us but to return home, and dwell within our-
selves : for we have a sufficient stock of self-love,
that we may be confident of our own affections, we
may trust ourselves surely; for what we want in skill
we shall make up in diligence, and our industry shall
supply the want of other circumstances : and no man
understands my own case so well as I do myself, and
no man will judge so faithfully as I shall do for my-
self; for 1 am most concerned not to abuse myself;
and if I do, I shall be the loser, and therefore may
best rely upon myself. Alas ! and God help us ! we
shall find it to be no such matter : for we neither love
ourselves well, nor understarid our own case ; we
are partial in our own questions, deceived in our
sentences, careless of our interests, and the most
false, perfidious creatures to ourselves in the whole
world : even the heart of a man, a man's own
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
ivickedf who can know it ? And who can chuse but
know it.

And there is no greater argument of the deceltful-
ness of our heart than this, that no man can know
it at all; it cozens us in the yery number of its co-
zenage. But yet we can reduce it all to two heads.
We say concerning a false man, trust him not, for he
will deceive you ; and w^e say concerning a weak and
broken staff, lean not upon it, for that will also de-
ceive you. The man deceives because he is false, and
the staff because it is weak; and the heart because it
is both. So that it is deceitful above all things ; that
is, failing and disabled to support us in many things,
but in other things where it can, it is false and des-
perately wicked. The first sort of deceitfidness is its
calamity, and the second is its iniquity; and that is
•the worse calamity of the two.

Serm. VII. op the heart. 12?

1. The heart is deceitful in its strcno'th ; and when
we have tlie growth ofa man, wo have the weaknesses
of a child : nay more yet, and it is a sad consideration,
the more we are in age, the weaker in our courage.
It appears in the heats and forw^ardncsscs of new con-
verts, which are like to the great emissions of light-
ning, or like huge fires, which flame and burn without
measure, even all that they can ; till from flames they
descend to still fires, from thence to smoke, from
smoke to embers, and from thence to ashes ; cold and
pale, like ghosts, or the fantastick images of death.
And the primitive church were zealous in their reli-
gion up to the degree of cherubims, and would run
as greedily to the sword of the hangman, to die for
the cause of God, as we do now to the greatest joy
and entertainment of a christian spirit, even to the
receiving of the holy sacrament. A man would think
it reasonable that the first infancy of Christianity
should, according to the nature of first beginnings,
have been remiss, gentle, and unactive ; and that ac-
cording as the objector evidence of faith grew, which
in every ajje hath a o-reat de2:ree of arg-ument su-
peradded to its confirmation, so should the habit also
and the grace, the longer it lasts, and the more ob-
jections it runs through, it still should shew a brighter
and more certain light to discover the divinity of its
principle: and that after the more examples, and
new accidents and strangenesses of Providence, and
daily experience, and the multitude of miracles, still
the Christian should grow more certain in his faith,
more refreshed in his hope, and warm in his charity :
the very nature of these graces increasing and swell-
ing upon the very nourishment of experience, and
the multiplication of their own acts. And yet be-
cause the heart of man is false, it suffers the fires
of the altar to go out, and the flames lessen by the
multitude of fuel. But indeed it is because we put

128 THE DECEiTPULNEss Serw. VIL

on strange fire, and put out the fire upon our hearths
by letting in a glaring sun-beam, the fire of lust, or
the heats of an angry spirit, to quench the fires of
God, and suppress the sweet cloud of incense. The
heart of man hath not strength enough to think one
good thought of itself, it cannot conmiand its own
attentions to a prayer of ten lines long, but before its
end it shall wander after something that is to no pur-
pose : and no wonder then that it grows weary of a
holy religion, which consists of so many parts as
make the business of a whole life. And there is no
greater argument in the world, of our spiritual weak-
ness and the falseness of our hearts in the matters of
religion, than the backwardness which most men
have always, and all men have sometimes, to say their
prayers; so weary of their length, so glad when they
are done, so witty to excuse and frustrate an oppor-
tunity: and yet there is no manner of trouble in the
duty, no weariness of bones, no violent labours;
nothins: but bepfo-inc: a blessins:, and receiving it :
nothing but doing ourselves the greatest honour of
speaking to the greatest person, and greatest king of
the world : and that we should be unwilling to do
this, so unable to continue in it, so backward to re-
turn to it, so without gust and relish in the doing it,
can have no visible reason in the nature of the thing,
but something within us, a strange sickness in the
heart, a spiritual nauseating or loathing of manna,
something that hath no name ; but we are sure it
comes from a weak, a faint, and false heart.

And yet this weak heart is strong in passions, vio-
lent in desires, unresistable in its appetites, impatient
in its lust, furious in anger: here are strengths enough,
one should think. But so have I seen a man in a
fever, sick and distempered, unable to walk, less able
to speak sense, or to do an act of counsel ; and yet
when liis fever had boiled up to a delirium, lie was

Serm. TIL op the heart. 129

strong enough to beat his nurse-keeper and his doc-
tor too, and to resist tlie lovir)g violence of all his
friends, who woukl fain bind him down to reason and
his bed : and yet we still say, he is weak and sick to

Cleath. QiKcu -yet^ (ivat Tsvou? iv (ra/fAOLTl, aA\' *{ 'jyletivovTI, a.; aQh'jUVTi.*

For these strengths of madness are not health, but
furiousness and disease, cvx. eta-t twi, ci\t.a. tttow*. srsgotr Tgojrti-,
It is iveakness another way. And so aie the strengths
of a man's heart : they are fetters and manacles ;
strong, but they are the cordage of imprisonment;
so strong, that the heart is not able to stir. And yet
it cannot but be a huge sadness, that the heart shall
pursue a temporal interest with wit and diligence,
and an unwearied industry; and shall not have
strength enouc^h in a matter that concerns its eternal
interest to answer one objection, to resist one assault,
to defeat one art of the devil ; but shall certainly
and infallibly fall, whenever it is tempted to a plea-
sure.

This, if it be examined, Avill prove to be a deceit,
indeed, a pretence, rather than true upon a just
cause; that is, it is not a natural, but a moral and a
vicious weakness : And we may try it in one or two
familiar instances. One of the great strengths, shall I
call it? or weaknesses of the heart, is, that it is strong,
violent and passionate in its lusts, and weak and de-
ceitful to resist any. Tell the tempted person, that
if he act his lust he dishonours his body, makes him-
self a servant to folly, and one flesh with a harlot;
he defiles the temple of God, and him that defiles a tem-
ple ivill God destroy ; Tell him that the angels, who '
love to be present in the nastiness and filth of prisons,
that they may comfort and assist chaste souls and
holy persons there abiding, yet they are impatient to
behold or come near the filthiness of a lustful per-

* Arrian.
VOL. H. 18

J3(J *HE OfiCEifFrLNEBS Serm. VIL

son : Tell him that his bin is so ugly, that the devils,
who are spirits, yet they delight to counterfeit the
actinii' of this crime, and descend unto the daufjh-
ters or sons of men, that they may rather lose their
natures, than not to help to set a lust forward : Tell
them these and ten thousand things more ; you move
them no more, than if you should read one of Tully'^s
orations to a mule : for the truth is, they have no
power to resist it, much less to master it; their heart
fails them when they meet their mistress ; and they
are driven like a fool to the stocks, or a bull to the
slaughter-house. And yet their heart deceives them ;
not because it cannot resist the temptation, but be-
cause it will not go about it: For it is certain, the
heart can, if it list. For let a boy enter into your
chamber of pleasure, and discover your folly, either
your lust disbands, or your shame hides it ; you will
not, you dare not do it before a stranger boy : and
yet that you dare do it before the eyes of the all-
seeing God, is impudence and folly, and a great con-
viction of the vanity of your pretence, and the false-
ness of your heartr If thou beest a man given to
thy appetite, and thou lovest a pleasant morsel as
thy life, do not declaim against the precepts of tem-
perance as impossible : Try this once j abstain from
that draught, or that dish. I cannot. No? Give
this man a great blow on the face, or tempt him with
twenty pound, and he shall fast from morning till
night, and then feast himself with your money, and
plain wholesome meat. And if chastity and tempc'
ranee be so easy, that a man may be brought to either
of them with so ready and easy instruments : let u&
not suffer our heart to deceive us by the weakness of
its pretences, and the strength of its desires: For we
do more for a boy than for God, and for twenty
pound than for heaven itself.

Serm. VII. of the heart. 131

But thus it is In every tiling else. Take a here-
tlck, a rebel, a person that hath an ill cause to man-
age; what he wants in tlie sticnirth of his reason, he
shall make it up with diligence; and a person tliat
hath right on his side is cold, indiho^ent, lazy, and un-
activc, trustinix that tlic jroodtiess of his cause will do
it alone. But so wrong prevails, while evil persons
are zealous in a bad matter, and others are remiss in
a good ; and the same j)crson shall be very industrious
always when he halh least reason so to be. That
is the first particular, the heart is deceitful in the
managing of its natural strengths ; it is natinally and
physically strong, but morally weak and impotent.

2, The heart of man is deceitful in making judg-
ment concerning its own acts. It does not kriow
when it is pleased or displeased, it is peevish and tri-
fling, it would and it would not, and it is in many
cases impossible to know whether a man's heart de-
sires such a thing or not. St. J^mbrose hath an odd
saying, Facilius inveneris innocentem^ quam qui poem-
tentiam digjie egerit ; It is easier to find a man that
lived innocently, than one that hath truly repented
him, with a grief and care great according to the
merit of his sins. Now suppose a man that hath
spent his younger years in vanity and folly, and is by
the grace of God apprehensive of it, and thinks of re-
turning to sober counsels ; this man will find his heart
so false, so subtil and fugitive, so secret and undis-
cernible, that it will be very hard to discern whether
he repents or no. For if he considers that he hateg
sin, and theretore repents ; alas ! he so hates it, that
he dares not, if he be Avise, tempt himself with an op-
portunity to act it: for in the midst of that which he
calls hatred, he hath so much love left for it, that if
the sin comes again and speaks him fair, he is lost
again, he kisses the fire, and dies in its embiaces.
And why else should it be necessary for us to pray

132 THE DECEITFULNESS Semt. VII.

tliat we be not led into temptation^ but because we hate
the sin, and yet love it too well ; we curse it, and yet
follow it ; we are an^ry at ourselves, and yet cannot be
without it; we know it undoes us, but we think it pleas-
ant ? And when we are to execute the fierce anger of
the Lord upon our sins, yet we are kind-hearted, and
spare the ^gcigt the reigning sin, the splendid temp-
tation, we have some kindnesses left towards it.

These are but ill signs. How then shall I know
by some inffiUible token that I am a true penitent ?
What and if I weep for my sins ? will you not then
give me leave to conclude my heart right with God,
and at enmity with sin ? It may be so. But there are
some friends that weep at parting; and is not thy
weeping a sorrow of affection ? It is a sad thing to
part with our long companion. Or it may be thou
weepest, because thou wouldest have a sign to cozen
thyself withal : for some men are more desirous to
have a sign than the thing signified; they would do
something to shew their repentance, that themselves
may believe themselves to be penitents, having no
reason from within to believe so. And I have seen
some persons weep heartily for the loss of six-pence,
or for the breaking of a slass, or at some triflinfi: ac-
cident; and they that do so cannot pretend to have
their tears valued at a bigger rate than they will con-
fess their passion to be when they weep, they are vex-
ed for the dirtying of their linen, or some such trifle,
for which the least passion is too big an expense. So
that a man cannot tell his own heart by his tears, or
the truth of his repentance by those short gusts of sor-
row. How then ? Shall we suppose a man to pray
against his sin ? So did St. Austin ; when in his youth
he was tempted to lust and uncleanness he prayed
against it, and secretly desired that God would not
hear him: for here the heart is cunnino^ to deceive
itself For no man did ever heartily pray agamst his

Serm. Vll. of the heart. 133

sin in the midst of a temptation to it, if he did in any
sense or degree listen to the temptation : For to }Haj
against a sin, is to have desires contrary to it, and that
cannot consist Avith any love or any kindness to it.
We pray against it, and yet do it; and then pray
again, and do it again, and we desire it, and yet pray
against the desires ; and that is ahnost a contradic-
tion. Now because no man can be supposed to will
against his own will, or chuse against his own de-
sires ; it is plain that we cannot know whether we
mean what we say when we pray against sin, but by
the event : If we never act it, never entertain it, al-
ways resist it, ever fight against it, and finally dopie-
vail ; then at length we may judge our own heart to
have meant honestly in that one particular.

Nay, our heart is so deceitful in this matter of re-
pentance, that the masters of spiritual life are fain to
invent suppletory arts and stratagems to secure the
duty. And we are advised to mourn, because we do
not mourn ; to be sorrowful because we are not sor-
rowful. Now if we be sorrowful in the first stage,
how happens it that we know it not? Is our heart
so secret to ourselves ? But if we be not sorrowful
in the first period, how shall we be so, or know it in
the second period ? For we may as well doubt
concerning the sincerity of the second, or reflex act
of sorrow, as of the first and direct action. And
therefore we may also as well be sorrowful the third
time, for want of the just measure or hearty meaning
of the second sorrow, as be sorrowful the second time
for want of true sorrow at the first; and so on to in-
finite. And we shall never be secure in this artifice,
if we be not certain of our natural and hearty passion
in our direct and first apprehensions.

Thus many persons think themselves in a good es-
tate, and make no question of their salvation, being

J 34 THE DECEITPULNE5S Semi. Vlf.

confident only because they are confident; and they
are so, because they are bidden to be so ; and yet they
are not confident at all, but extremely timorous and
fearful. How many persons are there in the world
that say they are sure of their salvation, and yet they
dare not die ? And if any man pretends that he is now
sure he shall be saved, and that he cannot fall away
from grace; there is no better way to confute him,
than by advising him to send for the surgeon, and
bleed to death. For what should hinder him ? not the
sin; for it cannot take him from God's favour : not
the change of his condition; for he says he is sure to
goto a better: Why then does he not say, »6Kp/i«,
like the Roman gallants when they decreed to die.
Tne reason is plainly this, They say they are confi-
dent, and yet are extremely timorous ; they profess to
believe that doctrine, and yet dare not trust it; nay,
they think they believe, but they do not : so false is a
man's heart, so deceived in its own acts, so great a
stranger to its own sentence and opinions.

3. The heart is deceitful in its own resolutions and
purposes: For many times men make their resolutions
only in their understanding, not in their will ; they
resolve it fitting to be done, not decree that they will
do it ; and instead of beginning to be reconciled to
God, by renewed and hearty purposes of holy living,
they are advanced so far only as to be convinced, and
apt to be condemned, by their own sentence.

But suppose our resolutions advanced farther, and
that our will and choices also are determined ; see
how our hearts deceive us.

1. We resolve against those sins that please us not,
or where temptation is not present, arid think by an
over-acted zeal against some sins to give an indul-
gence for some others. There are some persons who
will be drunk; the company, or the discourse, or the

Serm. VII, of the heart. 135

pleasure of madness, or an easy nature and a thirsty
soul, something is amiss, that cannot be helped : but
they will make amends, and the next day pray twice
as much. Or it may be, they must satisfy a beastly
lust; but they will not be drunk ibi all the world;
and hope by their temperance to commute for their
want of chastity. But they attend not the craft of
their secret enemy, their heart : for it is not love of
the virtue ; if it were, they would love virtue in all
its Instances ; for chastity is as much a virtue as tem-
perance, and God hates lust as much as he hates
drunkenness. But this sin is against my health, or it
may be it is against my lust ; it makes me impotent,
and yet impatient ; full of desire and empty of
strength. Or else I do an act of prayer, lest my
conscience become unquiet, while it is not satisfied,
or cozen with some intervals of religion : 1 shall think
myself a damned wretch if I do nothing for my soul ;
but if I do, I shall call the one sin that remains noth-
ing but infirmity; and therefore it is my excuse : and
my prayer is not my religion, but my peace, and my
pretence, and my fallacy.

2. VV^e resolve against our sin, that is, we will not
act it in those circumstances as formerly. I will not
be drunk in the streets; but I may sleep till I be re-
covered, and then come forth sober : or if I be over-
taken, it shall be in civil and genteel company. Or it
may not be so much; I will leave my intemperance
and my lust too, but I will remember it with pleasure ;
I will revolve the past action in my mind, and enter-
tain my fancy with a morose delectation in it, and by
a fiction of imagination will represent it present, and
so be satisfied with a little ejfeminacy or fantastick
pleasure. Beloved, suffer not your hearts so to cozen
you ; as if any man can be faithful in much that is
faithless in a little. He certainly is very much in love

136 THE DECEITFULNESS Semi. Vlt.

with sin, and paits with It very unwillingly, that keeps
its picture, and wears its favour, and delights in the
fancy of it, even wstli the same desire as a most pas-
sionate widow parts with her dearest husband, even
when she can no longer enjoy him ; but certainly her
staring all day upon his picture, and weeping over
his robe, and wrin£:ing her hands over his children,
are no great signs that she hated him. And just
so do most men hate, and accordingly part with their
sins.

3. We resolve against it when the opportunity is
slipped, and lay It aside as long as the temptation
pleases, even till it comes again, and no longer. How
many men are there in the world that against every
communion renew their vows of holy living ? men
that for twenty, for thirty years together, have been
perpetually resolving against what they daily act; and
sure enough they did believe themselves. And yet if
a man had daily promised us a courtesy, and failed us
but ten times, when it was in his power to have done
it, we should think we had reason never to believe
him more. And can we then reasonably believe the
resolutions of our hearts, which they have falsified so
many hundred times ? We resolve against a religious
time, because then it is the custom of men, and the
guise of the religion ; or we resolve Avhen we are in
a great danger; and then we promise any thing, pos-
sible or impossible, likely or unlikely, all is one to
us ; we only care to remove the present pressure, and
when that is over, and our fear is gone, and no love
remaining, our condition being returned to our first
securities, our resolutions also revert to their first in-
differences : or else we cannot look a temptation In
the face, and we resolve against It, hoping never to
be troubled Avith its arguments and Importunity.
Epidetus tells us of a gentleman returning from ba-
nishment, who in his journey towards home called at

(Serm. VU. of the heart. t3I

his house, told a sad story of an imprudent Hfe, the
greatest part of which being now spent, he was re-
solved for the future to live philosophically, and en-
tertain no business, to be candidate for no employ-
ment, not to go to the court, not to salute Cwsar
with ambitious attendances, but to study, and worship
the Gods, and die willingly, when nature or necessity
called him. It may be, this man believed himself,
but Epictetus did not. And he had reason : for
rtTuvToo-ai' ituTit Tragi Krt/cragou ttivumSk, letlo's froTii Ca3sar met him
at the doors, and invited him to court; and he for-
got all his promises which were warm upon his lips;
and grew pompous, secular, and ambitious, and gave
the gods thanks for his preferment. Thus many
men leave the world, wlien their fortune hath left
them; and they are severe and philosophical, and
retired for ever, if for ever it be impossible to return:
but let a prosperous sunshine warm and refresli their
sadnesses, and make it but possible to break their
purposes, and, there needs no more temptation; their
own false heart is enough ; they are like Ephraim in
the day of battle^ starting aside like a broken bow.

4. The heart is fulse, deceiving, and deceived, in its
intentions and designs. A man hears the precepts
of God enjoining us to give alms of all we possess ;
he readily obeys with much cheerfulness and alacri-
ty, and his cliarity, like a fair-spreading tree, looka
beauteously : but there is a canker at the heart; the
man blows a trumpet to call the poor together, and
hopes the neighbourhood will take notice of his boun-
ty. Nay he gives alms privately, and charges no
man to speak of it, and yet hopes by some accident
or other to be praised both for his charity and hu-
mility. And if by chance the fame of his alms comes
abroad, it is {)ut his duty to let his light so shine before
mcn^ that God may bo glorified^ ;:nd some of our neigh-
bours be relieved, and others edified. But then to dis-

VOL H. 19

13B THfc; DECEiTKULNEss Semi. VII.

tlnguish the intention ofour heart in this instance, and
to seek God's glory in a particular which will also
conduce much to our reputation, and to have no lilthy
adherence to stick to the heart, no reflection upon our-
selves, or no complacency and delight in popular nois-
es, is the nicety of abstraction, and requires an angel
to do it. Some men are so kind-hearted, so true to
their friend, (hat they will w^atch his very dying
groans, and receive his last breath, and close his eyes.
And if this be done with honest intention, it is well :
but there are some that do so, and yet are vultures
and harpies; they watch for the carcase, and prey
upon a legacy. A man with a true story may be ma-
licious to his enemy, and by doing himself right may
also do him wrong: and so false is the heart of man,
soclancular and contradictory are its actions and in-
tentions, that some men pursue virtue with great ear-
nestness, and yet cannot with patience look upon it in
another : it is beauty in themselves, and deformity in
the other : is it not plain, that not the virtue, but its
reputation is the thing that is pursued } And yet if
you tell the man so, he thinks he hath reason to com-
plain of your malice or detraction. Who is able to
distinguish his fear of God from fear of punishment,
when from fear of punishment we are brought to fear
God } And yet the difference must be distinguishable
in new converts and old disciples : and our fear of
punishment must so often change its circumstances,
that it must be at last a fear to offend out of pure love,
and must have no formality left to distinguish it from
charity. It is easy to distinguish these things in pre-
cepts, and to make the separation in the schools; the
head can do it easily, and the tongue can do it : but
when the heart comes to separate alms from charity,
God's glory from human praise, fear from fear, and
sincerity from hypocrisy; it does so intricate the
questions, and confound the ends, and blind and en-

Serm. VII. of the heart. 1:j**

tangle circumstances, that a man liatli reason to
doubt that his very best actions are suHied with
some unhandsome excresccncj, something to make
them very often to be criminal, but always to be im-
perfect.

Here a man would think were enough to abate
our confidence, and the spirit of pride, and to make
a man eternally to stand upon his guard, and to keep
a strict watch upon his own heart, as upon his great-
est enemy from without. CttstocH, libera me ck
mcipso, Dcus ; It was St. Jitgnsiiiis prayer, I.ord,
keep me. Lord, deliver me, from myself. If God will
keep a man that he be not felo de 6'c, that he lay no
violent hands upon himself, it is certain nothing else
can do him mischief, wts zst/?, cvn fxa^a., oun i^m-j;, as j^ga-
memnon said ; JYeither Jupiter^ nor desitmes, nor the
furies., but it is a man's self that does him the mischief.
The devil can but tempt, and oifer a dagger at the
heart ; unless our hands thrust it home, the devil
can do nothing, but what may turn to our advantao-e.
And in this sense we are to understand the two
seeming contradictories in scripture : Pray that ye
enter not into temptation., said our blessed Saviour;
and, Count it all joy when you enter into divers tempta-
tions., said one of Christ's disciples. The case is
easy. When God suffers us to be tempted, he
means it but as a trial of our faith, as the exercise of
our virtues, as the opportunity of reward ; and in
such cases Ave have reason to count it all joy; since
the trial of our faith worketh patience^ and patience
experience, and experience causeth hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed : but yet for all this. Pray
against temptations : for when we get them into our
hands, we use them as blind men do their clubs,
neither distinguish person nor part ; as soon they
strike the face of their friends as the back of the
enemy; our hearts betray us to the enemy, we fall

I4U THE DECE1TFULNES8 ^evm. VII.

in love with our mischief, we contrive how to let
the kist in, and leave a port open on purpose, and
use arts to forget our duty, and give advantages to
the devil. He that uses a temptation thus, hath
reason to pray against it ; and yet our hearts do all
this and a thousand times more : so that we may en-
grave upon our hearts the epitaph which was dig-
ged into Thyestes' grave-stone :

Nolite, inquit, hospitcs, adirc ad me ; lllico isthic,
Ne contagio ruea umbravc obsit :
Taiita vis sceleris in corpore haeret.*

There is so much falseness and iniquity in man's
heart, that it defiles all the members : it makes the
eyes lustful, and the tongue slanderous ; it fills the
head with mischief, and the feet with blood, and the
hands with injury, and the present condition of man
Avith folly, and makes his future state apt to inherit
eternal misery. But this is but the beginning of
those throes and damnable impieties which proceed
out of the heart of man, and defile the whole con-
stitution. I have yet told but the weaknesses of the
heart; I shall the next time tell you the iniquities,
those inherent devils which pollute and defile it to
the ground, and make it desperately ivicked^ that is,
wicked beyond all expression.

* Stranger, forbear with daring foot to tread
This grave, lest foul contagion seize thy limbs ;
Such subtle venorrj i'osters in my corpse. Jf.

f^erm. VIII. of the heart; 141

SERMON VIII.

PART II.

*vaf))taw, It is the beginning of wisdom to know a man's
own weaknesses and failings in things of greatest neces-
sity :'^ and we have here so many objects to furnish
out this knowledge, that we find it with the longest
and latest before it be obtained. A man does not
begin to know himself till he be old, and then he is
well stricken in death. A man's heart at first being
like a plain table, unspotted indeed, but then there
is nothing legible in it : as soon as ever we ripen
towards the imperfect uses of our reason, we write
upon this table such crooked characters, such im-
perfect configurations, so man)^ fooleries, and stain it
with so many blots and vicious inspersions, that there
is nothing worth the reading in our hearts for a great
while: and when education and ripeness, reason
and experience, Christian philosophy and the grace
of God have made fair impressions, and written the
law in our hearts with the finger of God's holy spirit,
we blot out this hand-writing of God's ordinances,
or mingle it with false principles and interlinings of
our own ; we disorder the method of God, or de-
face the truth of God; either we make the rule
uneven, we bribe or abuse our guide, that we may
wander with an excuse; or if nothing else will do it,
we turn head and profess to go against the laws of
God. Our hearts are blind, or our hearts are hard-
ened; for these are two great arguments of the

* Epict. Arrian.

142 THE DECEITFULNESS Scrm. Vllt.

wickedness of our hearts; they do not see, or they
will not sec the v/ays of God ; or if they do, they
make use of their seeing that they may avoid them.
1. Our hearts are blind^ wilfully blind. I need
not instance in the ignorance and involuntary nesci-
ence of men ; though if we speak of the necessary
parts of religion, no man is ignorant of them without
his own fault : such ignorance is always a direct sin,
or the direct punishment of a sin; a sin is either in
its bosom, or in its retinue. But the ignorance that
I now intend is a voluntary, chosen, delightful igno-
rance, taken in upon design, even for no other end,
but that we may perish quietly and infallibly. God
hath opened all the windows of heaven, and sent
the Sun of righteousness with glorious apparition,
and hath discovered the abysses of his own wisdom,
made the second person in the trinity to be the doc-
tor and preacher of his sentences and secrets, and
the third person to be his amanuensis or scribe, and
our hearts to be the book in which the doctrine is
written, and miracles and prophecies to be its argu-
ments, and all the world to be the verification of it :
and those leaves contain within their folds all that
excellent morality which right reason picked up af-
ter the shipwreck of nature, and all those wise
sayings which singly made so many men famous for
preaching sosne one of them; all them Christ gather-
ed, and added some more out of the immediate book
of revelation. So that now the wisdom of God hath
made every man's heart to be the true vetonica, in
which he»hath imprinted his own lineaments so per-
fectly, that we may dress ourselves like God, and
have the air and features of Christ our elder brother;
that we may be pure as God is, perfect as our Father,
meek and humble as the Son, and may have the
Hciy Ghost within us, in gifts and graces, in wisdom
and holiness. This hath Gpd done for us; and see

^erm. VIII. of the heart. 14S

what we do for lilm. We stand In our own light,
and quench God's : we love darkness more than
light, and entertain ourselves accordingly. For how
many of us are there that understand nothing of the
ways of God ; that know no more of the laws of
Jesus Christ than is remaining upon them since they
learned the children's catechism ? But amongst a
thousand, how many can explicate and unfold lor his
ownpracice the ten commandments, and how many
sorts o( sin? are there forbidden ? which therefore
pass into action, and never pass under the scrutinies
of repentance, because tliey know not that they are
sins ? Are there not very many who know not the
particular duties of meekness^ and never consider
concerning long-siiffering ? and if you talk to them
oi grotvth in gracc^ or the spirit of obsignation^ or the
melancholick lectures of the cross, and ^m^Va/^o?^ of and
conformity to ChrisCs svjj^erings^ or adhcrenccs to God^
or rejoicing in fmn, or not quenching the spirit ; you
are too deep-learned for them. And yet these are
duties set down plainly for our practice, necessary
to be acted in order to our salvation. We brag- of
light, and reformation, and fulness of the spirit: in
the meantime Ave understand not many parts of our
duty. We inquire into something that may make us
talk or be talked of, or that we may trouble a church,
or disturb the peace of minds : but in things that
concern holy living, and that wisdom of God where-
by we are wise unto salvation^ never was any age of
Christendom more ignorant than we. For, if we
did not wink hard, we must needs see that obedience
to supreme powers, denying of ourselves, humility,
peacefulness, and charity, are written in such capital
text letters, that it is impossible to be ignorant of
them. And if the heart of man had not lare arts to
abuse the understanding, it were not to be imagined
that any man should biing the thirteenth chapter to

144 THE DECEITFULNE5S Senil. Vlll.

the Romans to prove the lawfulness of taking up arms
against our rulers : but so we may abuse ourselves
at noon, and go to bed, if we please to call it mid-
night. And there have been a sort of witty men
that maintained that snow was hot. I wonder not
at the problem : but that a man should believe his
paradox, and should let eternity go away with the
fallacy, and rather lose heaven than leave his foolish
argument; is a sign that wilfulness and the deceiving
heart is the sophister, and the great ingredient into
our deception.

But that I may be more particular; the heart
of man uses devices that it may be ignorant.

1. We are impatient of honest and severe reproof;
and order tlie circumstances of our persons and ad-
dresses, that we shall never come to the true know-
ledge of our condition. Who will endure to hear
his curate tell him that he is covetous, or that he is
proud } Aiyu, a> iitvn? t/'^gsa-c, it is calufflny and reviling, if
he speak it to his head, and relates to his person : and
yet if he speak only in general, every man neglects
what is not recommended to his particular. But yet
if our physician tell us, you look well, sir, but a
fever lurks in your spirits; 'a^tjkxoi', (r«//sgov JJiag «■<«, drink
juleps and abstain from flesh; no man thinks it shame
or calujnny to be told to : But when we are told that
our liver is inflamed with lust or anger, that our heart
is vexed with eiwy^ that our eyes roll with wanton-
ness; and though we think all is well, yet we are"
sick, sick unto death, and near to a sad and fatal sen-
tence; we shall think that man that tells us so is
impudent, or uncharitable ; and yet he hath done him
no more injury than a deformed man receives daily
from his looking-glass, which if he shall dash against
the wall, because it shews him his face just as it is,
his face is not so ugly as his manners. And yet our
heart is so impatient of seeing its own stains, that.

!Serm. Vltf. of the heart. 14.')

like the elephant, it tramples in the pure streams,
and first troubles them, then stoops and drinks, when
he can least see his huge d^'fo! tuitj. .

2. In order to this, we heap up teachers of our
own, and thej guide us, not ivhitticr^ but which way.
they please: for we are curious to go our own waj,
and careless of our hospital or inn at night. A fair
way, and a merry company, and a pleasant easy
guide will entice us into the enemies' quarters; and
such guides we cannot Avant : Improhiiati occasio nun-
qnam dcfmt ; if we have a mind to be wicked, we shall
want no prompters; and false teachers, at first creep-
ing in unawares, have now so filled the pavement of
the church, that you can scarce set your foot on the
ground but you tread upon a snake. Cicero I. 7. ad
Jltlicum, undertakes to bargain with them that keep
the Sybils'' books, that for a sum of money they should
expound to him what he please ; and to be sure, ut
qaidvis potius epiam regeni proferrent, they shall de-
clare against the government of kings, and say that
the Gods will endure any thing rather than monarchy
in their beloved republick. And the same mischief
God complains of to be among the Jews: 7 he pro-,
phets prophesy lies, and my people love to have it sq^
and what wi/l the end of these things be ? even the
same that Cicero complained of, JJd opinioncm Impe-
ratorum Jictas esse reli((iones ;^ men shall have what
religion they please, and Gcd shall be entitled
to all the quarrels of covetous and ambitious per-
sons; tti n-j^mi'M-fr.^iiv, as /)emoi^//iewe5 wittily complain
ed of the oracle, An answer shall be drawn out of
scripture to countenance the design, and God made
the rebel against his own ordinances. And then we
are zealous for the Lord God of hosts, and will live
and die in that quarrel. But is it not a strange cozen-

* neDiviiial. !. ^»
VOL. TT. "20

14(3 tTie DKCEiTFULNEss Senu. VIII,

age tliat our hearts shall be the main wheel in the
engine, and shall set all the rest on working? The
heart shall first put his own candle out, then put out
the eye of reason, then remove the land-mark, and
dig down the causeways, and then either hire a blind
guide, or make him so : and all these arts to get igno-
rance, that they may secure impiety. At first, man
lost his innocence only in hope to get a little know-
ledjre : and ever since then, lest knowledg-e should
discover his errour, and make him return to mno-
cence, we are content to part with that now, and to
know nothing that may discover or discountenance
our sins, or discompose our secular designs. And as
God made great revelations, and furnished out a
wise religion, and sent his spirit to give the gift of
faith to his church, that upon the foundation of faith
he might build a holy Hfe : now our hearts love to
retire into blindness, and sneak under the covert
of false principles, and run to a cheap religion, and
an unactive discipline, and make a faith of our own,
that we may build upon it ease, and ambition, and a
tall fortune, and the pleasures of revenge, and do
what we have a mind to ; scarce once in seven years
denying a strong and an unruly appetite upon the
interest of a just conscience and holy religion. This
is such a desperate method of impiety, so certain arts
and apt instruments for the devil, that it does his
work entirely, and produces an infallible damnation.
.3. But the heart of man hath yet another strata-
gem to secure its iniquity by the means of ignorance ;
and that is, incogitancy or inconsideration. For
there is wrought upon the spirits of many men great
impressions by education, by a modest and temperate
nature, by humane laws, and the customs and seve-
rities of sober persons, and the fears of religion, and
the awfulness of a reverend man, and the several ar-
guments and endearments of virtue : and it is not in

Serm. VIU. of the heart. 147

the nature of some men to do an act in despite of
reason and religion, and arguments, and reverence,
and modesty, and fear; but men are forced from their
sin by the violence of the grace of God, when they hear
it speak. But so a Roman gentleman kept off a
whole band of soldiers who were sent to murder him,
and his eloquence was stronger than their anger or
design : but suddenly a rude trooper rushed upon
him, who neitlier had, nor would hear him speak :
and he thrust his spear in that throat whose musick
had charmed all his fellows in peace and gentleness.
So do we. The grace of God is armour and defence
enough against the most violent incursion of the spi-
rits and the works of darkness ; but then we muyt
hear its excellent charms, and consider its reasons,
and remember its precepts, and dwell with its dis-
courses. But this the heart of man loves not. if
I be tempted to uncleanness, or to an act of oppres-
sion, instantly the grace of God represents to me,
that the pleasure of the sin is transient and vain, un-
satisfying and empty; that I shall die, and then I
shall wish too late tliat I had never done it. It tells
me that I displease God who made me, who feeds me,
who blesses me, who fain would save me. It repre-
sents to me all the joys of heaven, and the horrours
and amazements of a sad eternity; and, if I will stay
and hear them, ten thousand excellent things besides,
fit to be twisted about my understanding for ever. But
here the heart of man shufHes all these discourses into
disorder, and w ill not be put the trouble of answer-
ing the objections; but by a mere wildness of pur-
pose and rudeness of resolution ventures sripcr totam
matcriam^ at all, and does the thing, not because it
thinks fit to do so, but because it will not consider
Avhether it be or no ; it is enough that it pleases a
pleasant appetite. And if such incogilancy comes
to be habitual, a? it is in very many men, (first by re-

148 Till: DECEiTFULNEss Serm. VIII.

sisting the motions of the Holy Spirit, then by quench-
ing him,) we uhall find the consequence to be, Ih'st
an indifferency^ then a dullness., then a lethargy., then a
direct haling tlic ways of God ; and it commonly ends
in a icretchlessncss of spirit to be manifested on our
death-bed; when the man shall pass hence not like
(he shadow, but like the dog, that departeth without
sense, or interest or apprehension, or real concern-
ment in the considerations of eternity : and it is
but just, ivhen we icill not hear our king speak and
plead, not to save himself, but us, to speak for our
peace, and innocency, and salvation to prevent our
ruin, and our intolerable calamity. Certainly, we are
much in love with the w ages of death, when we can-
not endure to hear God call us back, and ^^Ojo our
cars against the voice of the charmer, charm he never so
wisely.

Nay farther yet, we suffer the arguments of reli-
gion to have so little impression upon our spirits, that
they operate but like the discourses of childhood, or
the problems of uncertain philosophy. A man talks
of religion but as of a dream, and from thence he
awakens into the businesses of the world, and acts
them deliberately, with perfect action and full reso-
lution, and contrives, and considers, and lives in
them : but when he falls asleep again, or is taken
from the scene of his own employment and choice,
then lie dreams again, and religion makes such ira-
pressjons as is the conversation of a dreamer, and he
acts accordingly. Theocritus tells of a fisherman^
that dreamed he had ic^kcn c-j aufun^v tx^uv, Ay.xct xe,"<^iov, a
fish of gold, upon which being overjoyed, he made a
vow that he would never fish more ; but when he
waked, he soon declared his vov/ to be null, because
he found his golden fish was escaped away through
the holes of his eyes, when he first opened them. Just
so we do in the purposes of religion : sometimes

Serm. VIIL of the heart. 149

in a good mood we seem to see heaven opened, and
all the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem paved with
gold and precious stones, and we are ravished with
spiritual apprehensions, and resolve never to return
to the low aflections of the world, and the impure ad-
herencies of sin : but when this Hash of lightning is
gone, and wc converse again with the inclinations
and habitual desires of our false hearts, those otiier
desires and fine considerations disband, and the reso-
lutions taken in that pious fit melt into inditlerency
and old customs. He was prettily and fantastically
troubled, who having used to put his trust in dreams,
one night dreamed that all dreams were vain : for he
considered, if so, then this was vain, and then dreams
might be true for all this : but if they might be true,
then this dream might be so upon equal reason : and
then dreams were vain, because this dream, which told
him so, was true ; and so round again. In the same
circle runs the heart of man : all liis cogitations are
vain, and yet he makes especial use of this, that that
thought which thinks so, that is vain ; and if that be
vain, then his other thoughts, which are vainly de-
clared so, may be real, and relied upon. And so we
do; those religious thoughts which are sent unto us to
condemn and disrepute the thoughts of sin and vani-
ty, are esteemed the only dreams : and so all those
instruments which the grace of God hath invented
for the destruction of impiety are rendered ineffectu-
al, either by our direct opposing them, or (which
happens most commonly) by our want of considering
them.

The effect of all is this, that we are ignorant of the
thini>:s of God. We make reliirion to be the work of
a few hours in the whole year; Ave are without fancy
or affection to the severities of holy living ; we reduce
religion to the believing of a few articles, and doing
nothing that is considerable ; we pray seldom, and

150 THE DECErTFULNE68 Scrm. PllI^

then but very coldly and indiflferenlly ; we communi-
cate not so often as the sun salutes both the troplcks ;
we profess Christ, but dare not die for him ; we are
factious for a religion, and will not live according to
its precepts; we call ourselves Christian, and love
to be ignorant of many of the laws of Christ, lest our
knowledge should force us into shame, or into the
troubles of a holy lite. All the mischiefs that you can
suppose to happen to a furious, inconsiderate person,
running after the wild-fires of the night, over rivers,
and rocks, and precipices, without sun, or star, or
angel or man to guide him ; all that and ten thousand
times worse, may you suppose to be the certain lot
of him who gives himself up to the conduct of a pas-
sionate blind heart, whom no fire can warm, and no
sun can enlighten ; who hates hght, and loves to
dwell in the regions of darkness. That is the first
general mischief of the heart, it is possessed with
blindness, wilful and voluntary.

2. But the heart is hard too. Not only folly ^ but
mischief also 2s 60? ;2£/?/j3 in the heart of man. If God
strives to soften it with sorrow and sad accidents, it
is like an ox, it grows callous and hard. Such a
heart was Pharaoh's. When God makes the clouds
to gather round about us, we wrap our heads in the
clouds, and, like the malecontents in Qalba''s time,
tristitiara simulamus^ contumaciaepropiores, we seem sad
and troubled, but it is doggedness and murmur. Or
else if our fears be pregnant, and the heart yielding,
it sinks low into pusillanimity and superstition; and
our hearts are so cliildish, so timourous, or so impa-
tient in a sadness, that God is weary of striking us^
and we are glad of it. And yet when the sun shines
upon us, our hearts are hardened with that too; ahd
God seems to be at a loss, as if he knew not what to
do to us. War undoes us, and makes us violent;
peace undoes us, and makes us wanton : prosperity

Serm. Vllf. of the heart. 151

makes us proud; adversity renders us impatient:
plenty dissolves us, and makes us tyrants ; want
makes us greedy, liars, and rapacious.

n«c cvv «? ay o-cta-Ui rot aurw wca.«v,
H Min ;)(^Koi.lv!t, fxifTi a-tcrvpx ^vjupi^u j *

No fortune can save that city to whom neither peace
nor war can do advantage. And what is there left
for God to mollify our hearts, whose temper is like
both to wax and dirt; whom fire hardens, and cold
hardens; and contradictory accidents produce no
change, save that the heart grows worse and more
obdurate for every change of Providence ? But here
also I must descend to particulars.

1. The heart of man is strangely proud. If men
commend us, we think we have reason to distinguish
ourselves from others, since the voice of discerning
men hath already made the separation. If men do
not commend us, we think they are stupid, and un-
derstand us not; or envious, and hold their tongues
in spite. If we are praised by many, then Vox pO'
pull vox Dei, fame is the voice of God. If we be
praised but by few, then Satis unus, satis mdlus ; we
cry. These are wise, and one wise man is worth the
whole herd of the people. ' But if we be praised by
none at all, we resolve to be even with all the world,
and speak well of nobody, and think well only of our-
selves. And then we have such beggarly arts, such
tricks to cheat for praise. We enquire after ouf^
faults and failings, only to be told we have none, but
did excellently : and then Ave are pleased : we rail
upon our actions, only to be chidden for so doing;
and then he is our friend who chides us into a 2:ood\

* Aristoph. BotTgci;^. Act 5. Scene 4.

How from destruction canst thou save that citr.

Which neither war, nor smilinspcflce. amends ? A-

152 'iHH DKcEiTFULNi^sg Semi. Vlll:

opinions of ourselves, which however all the world
cannot make us part with. Nay, humility itself
makes us proud ; so false, so base is the heart of
man. For humility is so noble a virtue, that even
piide itself puts on its upper garment: And we do
like those who cannot endure to look upon an ugly
or a deformed person, and yet will give a great price
for a picture extremely like him. Humility is des-
pised in substance, but courted and admired in effigy.
And ^sop^s picture was sold for two talents, when
himself was made a slave at the price of two philip-
picks. And because humihty makes a man to be
honoured, therefore we imitate all its garbs and pos-
tures, its civilities and silence, its modesties and con-
descensions. And to prove that we are extremely
proud in the midst of all this pageantry, we should
be extremely angry at any man that should say we
are proud ; and that is a sure sign we are so. And
in the midst of all our arts to seem humble, we use
devices to bring ourselves into talk ; we thrust our-
selves into company, we listen at doors, and, like the
great beards in Rome,, that pretended philosophy and
strict life, oCiKi(r>!.ov nnTaTnovTn Tnpi^ctT'.uytv^ if 6 ivolk by the ob-
elisk^ and meditate in piazzas, that they that meet us
may talk of us, and they that follow us may cry out,
* fAiyciKcv piKKTcpou ! Behold ! there goes an excellent man !
He is very prudent, or very learned, or a charitable
person, or a good house-keeper, or at least very hum-
ble.

2. The heart of man is deeply in love with wick-
edness, and with nothing else ; against not only the
laws of God, but against his own reason, its own in-
terest, and its own securities. For is it imaginable
that a man who knows the laws of God, the rewards
of virtue, the cursed and horrid eifects of sin; that
knows and considers, and deeply sighs at the thought
of the intolerable pains of hell ; that knows the joys

Serm. VIII. of the HfiARf. 153

of heaven to bo unspeakable, and that concerning
them tiiere is no temptation, but that thej are too
big lor man to hope for, and yet he certainly believes
that a holy life shall inrallibiy attain thither; is it, I
say, imaginable that this man should for a transient
actio/j forfeit all this hope, and certainly and know-
ing incur all that calamity? Yea, but the sin is plea-
sant, and the man is clothed with (Icsh and blood, and
their appetites are material, and importunate, and
present; and the discourses of religion are concern-
ing things spiritual, separate and apt for spiiits, an-
gels and souis departed. To take off this also ; we
will suppose the mat) to consider, and really to be-
lieve, that the pleasure of the sin is sudden, vain,
empty, and transient ; tliat it leaves bitterness upon
the tongue, befoie it is descended into the bowels ;
that there it is poison and makes the belly to sicell, and
the thigh to rot ; that he remembers, and actually con-
siders, that as soon as the moment of sin is past, he
shall have an intolerable conscience, and does at the
instant compaie moments with eternity, and with hor-
rour remembers that the very next minute he is as
miserable a man as is in the world ? Yet that this
man should sin ? Nay, suppose the sin to have no
pleasure at all, such as is the sin of swearing ; nay, sup-
pose it really to have pain in it, such as is the sin of
envy, which never can have pleasure in its actions,
but much torment and consmnption of the very heart :
What should make this man sin so for nothing, so
against himself, so aijainst all reason and reliirion,
and mterest, without pleasure, for no reward ? Here
tlio heart betrays itself to be desperately wicked.
What man can give a reasonable account of such a
man, who, to prosecute his revenge, will do himself
an injury, that he may do a less to him that troubles.
Such a man hath o-iyen me iil-lanafuaa*e, own tw xjaa^.m.

VOL. II. 21

151 THE DECEITFULNESS Scrm. Vllt.

«A-«(, CL"T£ T^l (KpflaXUO;', OVTi TOV IT-^lrj)/, OVTl TUV OL^^OV AVKkVU. JVly llCnCl

aches not fur his language, nor hatk he broken my thigh,
nor curried away my land: But yet this man must be
requited well, suppose that. But liien let it be pro-
poitionably; you are not undone, let not him be so.
Oh yes; for else my revenge triumpiis not. Well, if
you do, )et remember he will defend himself, or the
law will right him; at least do not do wiong to
yourself by doing him wrong: This were but pru-
dence, and self interest. And yet we see that the
heart of some men hath betiayed them to such furi-
ousness of appetite, as to make them willing to die,
that their enemy may be buried in the same ruins.
Jovius Pont anus tells of an Italian slave, (I think)
who being enraged against his lord, watched his ab-
sence from home, and the employment and inadver-
tency of his fellow servants : he locked the doors,
and secured himself for a while, and ravished his
lady ; then took her three sons up to the battlements
of the house, and, at the return of his lord, threw one
down to him upon the pavement, and then a second,
to rend the heart of their sad father, seeing them
weltering in their blood and brains. The lord begged
for his third, and now his only son, promising pardon
and liberty if he would spare hislife. The slave seemed
to bend a little, and on condition his lord would cut
oiFliis own nose, he would spare his son. The sad
father did so, being willing to suifer any thing rather
than the loss of that child. But as soon as he saw
his lord all bloody with his wound, he threw the
third son and himself down together upon the pave-
ment. The story is sad enough, and needs no lustre
and advantages of sorrow to represent it : But if a
man sets liimsell down, and considers sadly, he can-
not easily tell upon what sufficient inducement or
what princijjle, the slave should so certainly, so hor-
ridly, so presently, and then so eternally ruin himself.

&erm. VIII. op the heart. 155

What could he propound to himself as a recompence
to his own so immediate tragedy? There is not in
the pleasure of the revenge, nor in the nature of the
thing, any thing to tempt iiim ; we must confess our
ignorance, and say, \.\\^i the heart of man is desperately
wicked : and that is the truth in general, but we can-
not lathom it by particular compiehension.

For when the heart of man is bound up by the
grace of God, and tied in golden bands, and watch-
ed by angels, tended bv those nurse-keepers of the
soul, it is not easy for a man to wander; and the
evil of his heart is but like the feritie and wildness
of lions' whelps: But ^vhcn once we have broken
the iiedge, and got into the strengths of youth, and
the licentiousness of an ungoverned age, it is "won-
derful to observe what a "-reat inundation of mis-
chief in a very short time will overflow all the banks
of reason and religion. Vice first is pleasing^ then it
grows easy, then dclightfuL then frcfjuent, then habi-
iiia/^then confirmed ; then the man is impenitent, then
he is obstinate, then he resolves never to repent, and
then he is damned. And by that time he is come half
"way in this progress, he confutes the philosophy of
the old moralists: For they, not knowing the vile-
ness of man's heart, not considering its desperate,
amazing impiety, knew no other degree of wicked-
ness but this, that men preferred sense before reason,
and their understandmi>s were abused in the choice
of a temporal before an iiitellectual and eternal good;
but thev alwavs concluded, that the will of man must
of necessity follow the last dictate of the understand-
ing, declaring an object to be good, in one sense o.r
other. Happy men they were that were so innocent,
that knew no pure and perfect malice, and lived in
an age in which it was not easy to confute them. But
besides that, now the wells of a deeper iniquity are
discovered, we see, by too sad experience, tliat there

156 THE DECEITFULNESS Scrm. VII

are some sins proceeding from the heart of man
whicJi have notiiing but simple and unmingled ma-
lice ; actions of mere spite, doing evil because it is
X3vii, sinning without sensual pleasures, sinning with
sensual pain, with hazard of our lives, with actual
torment, and sudden deaths, and cert-^in and present
damnation ; sins against the Holy Ghost, open hos-
tilities, and piofessed enmities against God and all
virtue. 1 can go no farther, because there is not in
the world or in the nature of tljings a greaterevil. And
that is the nature and folly of the devil : he tempts
men to ruin, and hates (jod, and only hurts hinjself
and those he tempts, and does himself no pleasure,
and some say he increases his own accidental tor-
ment.

Although I can say nothing greater, yet I had many
more things to say, if the time would iiave permitted
me to represent the falseness and baseness of the heart.

1. We are false ouiselves, and dare not trust God.

2. We love to be deceived, and are angry if we be
told so. 3. We love to seem virtuous, and yet hate
to be so. 4. We are melancholick and impatient, and
we know not why. 5. We are troubh^d at little things,
and are careless of greater. 6. We are overjoyed at
a petty accident, and des[)ise great and eternal plea-
sures. 7. We believe things, not for their reasons and
proper arguments, but as they serve our turns, be they
true or false. 8. We long extremely for things that
are forbidden us ; and what we desj)ise when it is
permitted us, we snatch at greedily when it is taken
from us. 9. We love ourselves more than we love
God : arid yet we eat poisons daily, and feed upon
toads and vipers, and nourisii our deadly enemies in
our bosom, and will not be brought to quit them; but
brag of our shame, and are ashamed of nothing but
virtue, which is most honourable, 10. We fear to
die, and yet use all means we can to make death ter*

Serm. VIII. ©p the heart. 157

rlblc and dani^erous. 1 1. We are busy in the faults
of others, and neghgent of our own. 12. We hve the
hfe of spies, striving to know others, and to be un-
known ourselves. 13. We worsliip and tlatttrsome
men and some things, because we fear them, not be-
cause we love them. 14. We are ambitious of great-
ness, and covetous of wealth, and all that we get by
it, is, that we are more beautifully tempted; and a
troop of clients run to us as to a pool, wliich first they
trouble, and then draw dry. 15. We niakc ourselves
unsafe by committing wickedness, then we add more
■wickedness to make us safe and beyond punlh^hment.
lb. VVe are more servile foi' one courtesy that we hope
for, than for twenty that we have received. 17. We
enteitaiii slanderers, and without choice spread their
calumnies ; and we hug flatterers, and know they
abuse us. And if I should gather the abuses, and
im[)ietios, and deceptions of the heart, as Chrysippiis
did t!ie oracular lies oi' ^Jpol/o, into a table, 1 fear they
would seem remediless, and beyond the cure of
■watchfulness and religion. Indeed they are great
and many; but the grace of God is greater; and if
iniquity abounds^ then doth grace siiperaboimd : and
that is our comlbrt and our medicine, which we must
thus use.

1. Let us watch our heart at every turn.

2. Deny it all its desires that do not directly, or by
consequence, end in godliness: At no hand be indul-^
gent to its fondnesses and peevish appetites.

.3. Let us suspect it as an enemy.

4. Trust not to it in any thing.

5. But beg the grace of God with perpetual and
importunate prayer, that he would be pleased to bring
good out of these evils, and that he would throw the
salutary wood of the cross, the merits of Christ's
death and passion, into these salt waters, and maka
them healthful and pleasant.

158 THE DECEITFULNESS, &C. SenU, VIII.

And In order to the managing these advices, and
acting the purposes of this prayer, let us strictly fol-
low a rule, and choose a prudent and faithful guide,
who may attend our motions, and watch our counsels,
and direct our steps, and prepare the way of the Lord,
and make his paths straight^ apt and imitable. For
"without great watchfulness, and earnest devotion, and
a prudent guide, we shall find that true in a spiritual
sense, which Plutarch afHrmed of a man's body in the
natural : That of dead bulls arise bees ; from the car-
casses of horses hornets are produced ; but the body
of man brings forth serpents. Our hearts wallowing
in their owii natural and acquired corruptions will
produce nothing but issues of hell, and images of the
old serpent the devil, for whom is provided the ever-
lastinic burnins:.

SERMON IX.

FAITH AND PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS

^HE RIGHTEOUS CAUSE OPPRESSED.

1 Peter iv. 17, 18.

For the time is come that jud2;ment must begin at the house of God ;

and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey

not the gospel of God ?
18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly

and the sinner appear ?

So long as the world lived by sense, and discourses
of natural reason, as they were abated with human
infirmities, and not at all heightened by the spirit and
divine revelations ; so long men took their accounts
o^ a^ood and bad by their being pros^perous or unfor-
tunate : and amongst the basest and most ignorant of
men, that only was accounted honest which was pro-
fitable ; and he only wise, that was rich ; and those
men beloved of God, who received from him all that
might satisfy their lust, their ambition, or their
revenge.

160 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE SeriH. IX.

Falis atcede, Deisque ;

Et cole felices, miseros rngo : sidera terrS.
Ut distant, el tlamma inari, sic utile recto.*

But because God sent wise men into the world, and
they were treated rudejy by the world, and exercised
with evil accidents, and tliis seemed so great a discou-
ra'/ement to virtue, that even these wise men were
more troubled to reconcile virtue and misery, than to
reconcile their affections to the sulFering; God was
pleased to enlighten tlieir reason with a little beam of
faith, or else heightened their reason by wiser prin-
ciples than those of vulgar understandings, and taught
them it- the clear glass of faith, or the dim perspec-
tive of philosophy, to look beyond the cloud, and there
to spy that there stood glories behind their curtain,
to which they could not come but by passing through
the cloud, and being wet with the dew of heaven and
the waters of affliction. And according as the world
grew more enlightened by faith, so it grew more dark
with mourning and sorrows. God sometimes sent a
light of fire, and a pillar of a cloud, and the bright-
ness of an angel, and the lustre of a star, and the sa-
crament of a rainbow, to guide his people through
their portion of sorrows, and to lead them through
troubles to rest; but as the Sun of righteousness
approached towards the chambers ofthe east, and sent
the harbingers of light peeping through the curtains
ofthe night, and leading on the day of faith and bright-
est revelation ; so God sent degrees of trouble upon
wise and good men, that now in the same degree in
the which the world lives by faith., and not by sense,
in the same degree they might be able to live in vir-

♦ Thy actions fashion as the Gods decree.
The wealthy flatter and the wretched flee.
Nor seems the useful wider from the just,
Thau fire from water, or the stars from dust. A-.

^erm. IX. of the saints. 161

fue even wliile she lived in trouble, and not reject
so great a beauty because she goes in mouruing, ;iiid
hath a black cloud of cypress drawn before her face.
Literally thus: God first entertained their services,
and allured and prompted on the inhrmities of the
infant world by temporal prosperity ; but by de-
grees changed his method, and as men grew stronger
in the knowledge of God, and the expectations of
heaven, so they grew weaker in their fortunes, more
afflicted in their bodies, more abated in their expec-
tations, more subject to their enemies, and were to
endure the contradiclion of sinners^ and the immis-
sion of the sharpnesses of l*rovidence and divine
economy.

First, Adam was placed in a garden of health and
pleasure, from which when he fell, he was only tied
to enter into the covenant o( natural sorroivs^ which
he and all his posterity till the flood ran through :
but in all that period they had the whole wealth of
the earth before them ; they needed not fight for
empires, or places for their cattle to graze in; thej
lived long, and felt no want, no slavery, no tyranny,
no war; and the evils that happened were single,
personal and natural ; and no violences were then
done, but they were like those things, which the law
calls rare contiui^encies ; for which as the law can
now take no care and make no provisions, so then
there was no law, but men lived jT/Te, and nVA, and
/owg, and they exercised no virtues but natural, and
knew no felicity but natural ; and so long their pros-
perity was just as was their virtue, because it was a
natural instrument towards all that which they knew
of happiness. But this publick easiness and quiet
the world turned into sin ; and unless God did com-
pel men to do themselves good, they would undo
themselves : and then God broke in upon them with,
a Hood, and destroyed that generation, that he

VOL. n. 22

162 THE FAITH AflD PATIlXCE Scrm. IX*

misfht becln the o-overnment of the world upon
a new stock, and bind virtue upon men s spirits
by new bands, endeared to them by new hopes and
fears.

Then God made new laws, and gave to princes
the power of the sword, and men might be punished
to death in certain cases, and man's life was shorten-
ed, and slavery was biought into the world, and the
state of servants; and then war began, and evilg
niuhiphed upon the face of the earth; in which it is
naturally certain, that they that are most violent and
injurious prevailed upon the weaker ai.d more inno-
cent; and every tyranny that began from JSlmrod to
this day, and every usurper, was a peculiar argument
to shew that God began to teach the world virtue
by suffering; and that therefore he suii'ered tyran-
nies and usurpations to be in the world, and to be
prosperous, and the rights of men to be snatched
away from the owners, that the world might be
established in potent and settled governments, and
the sufferers be taught all the passive virtues of the
soul. For so God brink's g^ood out of evil, turninsT
tyranny into the benefits of government^ and violence
into virtue, and si^erings into reivards. And this was
the second change of the world : personal tniseries
were brought in upon Adam and his posterity, as a
punishment of sin in the fir£,t period ; and in the
second, publick evils were brouglit in by tyrants and
usurpers, and God sutlered them as the first elements
of virtue, men being just newly put to school to
infant sufferings. But all this was not much.

Christ's line was not yet drawn forth ; it began not
to appear in what family the Icing of sufferings should
descend, till Jlbraliarns time ; and therefore till then
there were no greater sufferings than what 1 bave now
reckoned. But when Jlbraiiam''s family was chosen
from among the many nations, and began to belong

Serm. IX. of the saints. 163

to God by a special riu:lit, and lie was designed to be
the father of tlic JJesnias ; then God found out a new
way to try him, even with a sound affliction, com-
iTiandiui^- him to olfcr his beloved Isaac : but this was
accepted, and being intended by j^ I) raham,'~w as not
intended by God : lor this was a type of Ciirist, and
tiieretore was also but a type of sutierings. And ex-
cepting the suflferingsof the old periods, and thesuffer-
inirs of nature, and accident, we see no change made
for a louff time after; but God, havino; established a
law in JibrahairCs family, did build it u[)on promises
of healih^ and peace^ and victory^ and plenty, and
riches ; and so long as they did not j)revaricate tiie law
of their God. so long they were prosperous: but God
kept a remnant of Canaanitcs in the land, like a rod
held over them, to vex or to chastise them into obe-
dience, in which while tiiey persevered nothing coidd
hurt them ; and that saying of Dai'id needs no other
sense but the letter of its own expression. I have
been young, and now am old ; and yet I never saic the
ri<rhteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.
The godly generally were prosperous, and a good
cause seldom had an ill end, and a good man never
died an ill death, till the law had spent a great part
of its time, and It descended towards Its declension
and period. But that the ffieat pr incc of suflerinj^s
might not appear upon his stage of tragedies without
some forerunners of sorrow, God was pleased to
choose out some good men, and honour them, by
making them to become little images of sulferlng.
Isaiah, .Jeremiah, and Zachariah were martyrs of the
Law ; but these were single deaths : Shadrac, J\Ie-
shec and j^bednciJ-o were thrown into a burnlnrr fur-
nace, and Daniel Into a den of lions, and Susanna was
accused for adultery; but these were but little ar-
rests of the prosperity of the godly. As the time
drew nearer that Christ should be manifest, so tho

164 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Semi. IX.

sufferings grew bigger and more numerous : and
Antiochus raised up a sharp persecution In the time of
the JMuccabecs^ in which many passed through tlie
red sea of blood into the bosom of Jlhraham ; and
then Christ came. And that was the third period m
which the changed method of God's providence was
perfected : for Christ was to do his great work by
sulferings, and by sujferitio's was to enter into blessed-
ness ; and by his passions he was made prince of the
cathohck church, and as our head was, so must the
members be. God made the same covenant with us
tliat he did with his most holy Son, and Christ obtained
no better conditions for us than for himself; that was
' not to be looked for ; the servant must not be above
his master., it is well if he be as his master : if the
world persecuted him., they will also persecute us : and
from the days of John the baptist the kingdom of
Heaven svffers violence., and the violent take it by force ;
not the violent doers., but the sufferers of violence :
for though the old law was established in the promises
of temporal prosperity; yet the gospel is founded in
temporal adversity; it is directly a covenant of suf-
ferings and sorrows; for now the time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God. That is the
sense and design of the text; and J intend it as a
direct antinomy to the common persuasions of ty-
rannous, carnal and vicious men, who reckon nothing
good but what is prosperous : for though that proposi-
tion had many degrees of truth in the beginning of
the law, yet the case is now altered, God hath estab-
lished its contradictory sin ; and now every good man
must look for persecution, and every good cause
must expect to thrive by the sutifeiings and patience
of holy persons ; and as men do well, and sulfer evil,
so they are dear to God; and whom he loves most,
he afflicts most, and does this with a design of the
greatest mercy in the world.

Serm. IX. op the saints. 165

1. Then, the state of the gospel is a state of suf-
ferings, not of temporal prosperities. This was fore-
told by the proj)hets : A fountain shall go out of
the house of the LorcU and irrigabit torrentem spina-
rum^ (so it is in the vulgar Latin j cz/ic/iV shall water the
torrent of thorns, that is, the state or time of the
gospel, which, like a torrent^ shall carry the world
before it, and like a torrent shall be fullest in ill
weather ; and by its banks shall grow nothing but
thorns and briers, sharp afflictions, temporal iniehci-
ties and persecution. This sense of the wokIs is
more fully explained in the book of the prophet /ac/oA.
Lpon the ground of my people shall /horns and briers
come up, how much more in all the houses of the city
of rejoicing?* Which prophecy is the same in the -style
of the prophets that my text is in the style of tiie
apostles. The house of God shall be watered with
the dew of Heaven, and there shall spring up briers
in it : Judgment must begin there ; but how much more
in the houses of the city of rejoicing ? how much more
amongst them that are at ease in Sion, that serve tlieir
desires, that satisfy their appetites, that are given
over to their own heart's lust, that so serve themselves
that they never serve God, that dwell in the city of re-
joicing? They are like Dives, whose portion was in
this life, who went in fine linen, and fared deliciou.ly
everyday : they indeed trample upon their briers and
thorns, and sulfer them not to grow in their houses ;
but the roots are in the ground, and they are reserved
for fuel of wrath in the day of everlasting burning.
Thus you see it was prophesied, now see how it was
perfoimed : Christ was the Captain of our sufferings,
and he began.

He entered into the woild with all the circumstan-
ces of poverty. He had a star to illustrate his birth ;
but a stable for his bed-chamber, and a manger for

* Isaiali xxxii, 13.

166 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE SertTl. IX.

his cradle. The angels sang hymns when he was
born ; but he was cold and cried, uneasy and unpro-
vided. He lived long in the trade of a carpenter ;
he by whom God made the world had in his first
years the business of a mean and ignoble trade. He
did good wherever he went; and almost wherever
he went was abused. He deserved Heaven for his
obedience, but found a cross in his way thither: and
if ever any man })ad reason to expect fair usages from
God, and to be dandled in the lap of ease, softness
and a f)rosperous fortune, he it was only that could
d<^serve that, or any thing that can be good. But
after he had chosen to live a life of virtue, of poverty
and labour, he entered into a state of death; whose
shame and trouble was great enough to pay for
the sins of the whole world. And I shall choose to
exjii'ess this mystery in the words of scripture. He
died not by a single or a sudden death, but he was
the lamb slain from the bc({inmng of the world : For
he was massacred in »/?6e/, (saith St. Panlinus,) he
was tossed upon the waves of the sea in the person
of JYoah ; it was he that went out of his country
when Abraham was called from Charran^ and wan-
dered from his native soli ; he was offered up in
Isaac^ perseci]ted in Jacob., betrayed in Joseph, blinded
in Sampson, affronted in Aloses, sawed in Esau, cast
into the dungeon with Jeremiah. For all these were
types of Christ's suffering. And then his passion
continued even after his resurrection. For it is he
that suffers in all his members ; it is he that endures
the coatradiclion o/"all sinners; it is he that is the Lord
of life, and is crucified again, and put to open shame m
all the sufferings of his servants, and sins of rebels,
and defiances of apostates and I'enegadoes. and vio-
lence of tyrants, and injustice of usurpers, and the
persecutions of his chinch. It is he that is stoned in
Saint Stephen, siayed in the perbon of Saint JJarth&-

Serm. IX. of the saints. 167

lomcw ; he was roasted upon Saint LaKrence's grid-
iron, exposed to lions in Sainl Igiiadus. buined in ^Saint
Poll/carp^ frozen in the lake where stood foity mar-
tyrs of Cappudocia. Unigenitus enim Dei odperoiren-
dnm mortis suae sacra menhrm consummavit omrie genus
humanarum passionum^ said St. Hilary ; The sacra-
ment of Christ's deatli is not to be accomphshed but
by snlFcring all the sorrows of humanity.

All that Christ came for was. or was mingled with,
sufferings: for all those little joys which God sent,
either to recreate his person, or lo jllustrate his oflice,
were abated or attended with afflictions ; Gcd beins:
more carelul to establish m him the covenant of suf-
ferings, than to lefresh his sorrows. Presently after
the angels had finished their hallelujahs, he was forced
to flv to save his life ; and the air became full of shrieks
of the desolate motheis of Bethlehem for their dying
babes. God had no sooner made him illustrious
with a voice from Heaven, and the descent of the
Holy Ghost upon him in the vvateis of baptism, but
he was delivered over to be tempted and assaulted
by the Devil in the wilderness. His transfiguration
was a bright ray of glory ; but then also he entered
into a cloud, and was told a sad story what he was
to siitXcA^ ^t Jerusalem. And upon Palm-simday^ when
he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem^ and was adorn-
ed with the acclamations of a king and a god, he wet
the palms with his tears, sweeter than the drops of
manna, or the little pearls of Heaven that descended
upon mount Ilermon ; weeping in the midst of this
triumph over obstinate, perishing, and nsaiicious Je-
rusalem. For this Jesus was like the rainbow, which
God set in the clouds as a sacrament to confirm a
promise, and establish a grace ; he was half made
of the glories of the light, and half of the moisture
of a cloud ; in his best days he was but half triumph
and half sorrow : he was seut to tcil ot his Father's

168 THE FAITH A\D PATIENCE Scrm. IX.

mercies, aii'l that God intended to spare us ; but ap-
peared not but in the company oi' in the retinue of a
shower, and of foul weather. But I need not tell that
Jesus, beloved of God, was a suffering person : that
which concerns tiiis question most, is, that he made
for us a covenant of sufferings ; his doctrines were
such as expressly and by consequent enjoin and sup-
pose sufferings^ and a state of ailiiction ; his very ^ro-
mises were sufferings^ h'\s beatitudes were sufferings;
his rewards^ and his arguments to invite men to follow
him, were only taken from sufferings in this life, and
the reward o^ sufferings hereaftei".

For if we sum up the commandments of Christ, we
shall find humility^ mortification^ self-denial, repentance^
renouncini^ the worlds mournings taking up the cross, dy-
ing for him, patience and poverty, to stand in the
chiefest rarik of Christian precepts, and in the direct
order to Heaven : He that will be my disciple must de-
ny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. We
must follow him that was crowned with thorns and
sorrows, him that was drenched in Cedron, nailed
upon the cross, that deserved all good and suffered
all evil ; that is the sum of Christian religion, as it
distinguishes from all the religions of the world. To
which we mav add the express precept recorded by
Saint Jame^ ; be afflicted, and mourn, and weep ; let your
lauc^hter be turned into mourning, and yonr joy into
weeping.* You see the commandments : will you also
see the promises ? these they are. In the world ye
shall have tribulation, in me ye shall have peace : And
through many tribulations ye shall enter into Heaven:
and he that loseth father and mother, wives and chil-
dren, houses and lands for my name'^s sake and the
gospel, shall receive a hundred fold in this life, with
persecution ; that is part of liis reward: and, he chas-

* James iv, 9.

Serni. JX, or the saints. 169

(iseth every son that he receivcih ; and if ye be exempt
from si/jfetutiis, ye are bastards and not sotis^ these aie
soineorChi Lsts promises: will you see someofChiist's
blessimrs^ that he gives his church ? Blessed are the
poor: blessed are the hungry and thirsty: blessed are
thrij that mourn : blessed are the humble : blessed are
the persecuted.'^ Of" the ei<jjht beatitudes, five of them
have temporal miserj and meanness, or an afflicted
condition, foi* their subject. ^\ill you at last see sonie
of the rewards which Christ hath propounded to his
servants, to invite them to follow him? When I am
lifted up^ I will draiv oil men after me : when Chiist
is lifted up as JMoses lifted up the serpent in the wil-
derness, that is, lifted upon the cross, then he will
tlraiv vs after him. To yon it is ^ivcn for Christy
(saith Sauit Pauh when he went to sweeten and to
flatter the Philippians : Well, what is given to them?
some great favours surely; true) It is not only given
that you believe in Christ, (though that be a great
matter) ^m/ f//.«o that you suffer for him.'f that is the
highest of your honour. \nd therefoie saith Saint
James, J\'Iy brethren count it all joy when ye enter
into divrs temptations :\ and Saint Peter, Communi-
cating with the sufferings of Christ rejoice ;^ and Saint
James again, i^\ e count them blessed that have suffered .-IT
and Saint Paul, when he gives his blessing to the
Thessalonians, useih this foim of prayei'; Cur Lord
direct your hearts in the charity of God, and in the
patience and sufferings of Christ.'^ So ihat if we will
serve the king of sufferings, whose ciown was of
thorns, whose sceptre was a reed of scorn, whose
imperial robe was a scarlet of mockery, whose throne
was the cross ; we must serve liim in sufforings, in
poverty of spirit, in humility and mortification : and

*Matt. V. t Philip, i. 29. | Jamos i. 2

§ 1 Pet. iv. 13. H Jaines v. 11. |1 2 Tiics, iii. 5,

▼OL, II. 23

170 THE FAITH ASTD PATIENCE Semi. IX.

for our reward we shall have persecution, and all its
blessed consequents. Jltquc hoc est esse Cliristiunnm.

Since this was done in the green tree, what might
we expect should be done in the dry ? Let us in the
next place consider how God hath treated his saints
and servants in the descending ages of the gospel ;
that if the best of God's servants were followers of
Jesus in this covenant ofsutferings, we may not think it
strange^ concerning the fiery trials as if some new
thing had happened to us* For as the gospel was
founded in sutferings, we shall also see it grow in
persecutions: and as Christ's blood did cement the
corner stones, and the first foundations; so the blood
and sweat, the groans and sighings, the afflictions
and mortifications of saints and martj rs did make
the superstructures, and must at last finish the
building.

If we begin with the apostles, who were to per-
suade the world to become Christian, and to use
proper arguments of invitations, we shall find that
thej never offered an argument of temporal pros-
perity ; they never promised empires and thrones on
earth, nor riches, nor temporal power : and it would
have been soon confuted, if they who were whipt and
imprisoned, banished and scattered, persecuted and
tormented, should have promised sunshine days to
others, which they could not to themselves. Of all
the apostles there was not one that died a natural
death but only saint John;'\ and did he escape ? Yes:
but he was put into a chaldron of scalding lead and
oil before the Port Latin in Rome, and escaped death
by miracle, though no miracle was wrought to make
him escape the torture. And besides this, he lived
long in banishment, and that was worse than Saint
Peter'^s chains. Sanctus Petrus in vinculis^ et Johan^

'^ 1 Peter iv. 12. \ Tertul. St. Hieron.

Serm. IX. op the saints. 171

nes ante Porfam Latinmn^ were both days of martyr-
dom, and church-festivals. And alter a long and la-
borious lilc, and the atllictlon of being detained from
his crown, and his soriows for the death of his fel-
low-disciples, he died full of clays and sufferings. And
when St. Paul was taken into ti)c apostolate, his
commissions were signed in these words; I will shew
unto him liow great things he must svffcrfor my name :*
And his whole life was a continual suiTerlng. Quotidie
tnorior was his motto, /(//c daily ; and his lesson that
he daily learned was, to knoic Christ Jesus and him
crucified ; and all his joy was to rejoice in the cross of
Christ ; and the changes of his life were nothing
but the changes of his sufferings, and the variety of
his labours. For though Christ hath finished his own
suiferlngs for the expiation of the world; yet there
are ixmfmtTrct ^Ki^ia>v, portlous that are behind of the suffer-
ings of Christ., v:hich must be filed up by his body the
church; and happy are they that put in the greatest
symbol : for in the same measure you are partakers of
the sufferings of Christ., in the same shall ye be also of the
consolation. And therefore concerning St. Paul, as
it was also concerning Christ, there is nothing, or
but very little, in scripture, relating to his person and
chances of his private life, but his labours and perse-
cutions ; as if the Holy Ghost did think nothing fit
to stand, upon record for Ciirist but sulFerings.

And now began to work the greatest glory of the
divine Providence : here was the case of Christianity
at stake. The world was rich and prosperous, learn-
ed and full of wise men; the gospel was preached
with poverty and persecution, in simplicity of dis-
course, and in demonstration of the spirit : God w as
on one side, and the devil on the other; they each
of them dressed up their city; Babylon upon earth,
.Jerusalem from above. The devH's city was full of

-■' Actsix. 10.

172 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE ScVm. IX.

pleasure, triumphs, victorle»> and cruelty; good
news, and gieat wealth; conquest over kings, and
making nations tributai) : They bound tings in
chains., and the nobles ivith links of iron ; and the in"
heritance of the earth ivas theirs : The Romans wcie
lords over the greatest paits of" the world ; and God
permitted to the devil the firmament and increase,
the wars and the success of tliat people, giving to
him an entire power of disposing the great changes
of the world so as might best increase their greatness
and power: and he therefore did it, because all the
power of the ilonian gieatness was a professed ene-
my to Christianity. Arid, on the other side, God was
to build up Jerusalem., and the kingdom of the gos-
pel ; and he chose to build it of hewn stone, cut and
broken : The apostles he chose for preachers, and
they had no learning; women and mean people
were the first diciples, and they had no power; the
devil was to lose his kingdom, he wanted no ma-
lice : and therefore he stirred up, and, as well as
he could, l^e made active, all the power of i?ome, and
all the learning of the Greeks., and all the malice of
barbarous people, and all the prejudice and the ob-
stinacy of the Jews^ against this doctrine and insti-
tution, which preached and promised, and brought
persecution along with it. On the one side there
was scandalum crucis, on the other palientia sanctO'
rum: and what was the event? They that had
overcome the world could not strangle Christianity.
But so have I seen the sun with a little ray of distant
ligiit, challenge all the power of darkness, and with-
out violence and noise climbing up the hill, hath
made night so to retire, that its memory was lost in
the joys and sprightlulness of the morning : And Chris-
tianity, without violence or armies, without resistance
and self-preservation, without strength or human
eloquence, without challenging of privileges or fight*

Sferm. IX. of the saints. 173

ing against tyranny, witliout alteration of govern-
ment and scandal of princes, with its Ijiimiiity and
meekness, with toleration and patience, with obe-
dience and charity, with praying and dying, did
insensibly turn the world into Christian^ and persecu-
tion into victory.

For Christ, who began, and lived, and died in
sorrows, perceiving his own suffeiings to succeed so
well, and thatybr svjfcrir,g deoth he ivas crowned uilh
immortality,, resolved to lake all his disciples and ser-
vants to the fellowship of the same suffering., that they
might have a participation of his glory ; knowing,
God iiad opened no gate of heaven but the narrow
gate to which the cross was the key. And since
Christ now being our high priest., in heaven inter-
cedes for us by representing his passion, and the
dolours of the cross, that even in giory he n;i<iht
still preserve the meixiea of his vast siilferings, tor
which the Father did so delight in him; he also
designs to present us to God diessed in the sati e
robe, and treated in the same manner, and honouied
with the marks of the Lord Jesus : He hath predestinat-
ed us to be conformable to the image of his i^^on. Ard
if, under a head crowned with thorns, we biinof to
God members circled with roses, and sottness, and
delicacy, triumphant members in the militant chuich,
God will reject us; he will not know us who are so
unlike our elder brother: For we are meuibers of
the lamb, not of the lion; and of Christ's suftering
part, not of the triumphant part: and for three hun-
dred years together the church lived upon blood, and
was nourished with blood ; the blood of her own
children. Thirty-three bisiho|)s of Rome in immediate
succession were put to violent and unnatural deaths;
and so were all the churches of the east and west built;
the cause of Christ and of religion was advaiiced by
the sword, but it was the swoid of the persecutOiS,

174 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Scrm. IX.

not of registers or warrlours : They were all baptized
into the death of Christ ; their very profession and in-
stitution is to live hke him, and when he requires it,
to die for him ; that is the very formality, the life
and essence of Christianity. This, I say, lasted for
three hundred years, that the prayers, and the backs,
and the necks oFChristians fought against the rods and
axes of the persecutors, and prevailed, till the coun-
try, and the cities, and the court itself was filled with
CiMislians. And by this time the army of martyrs \\'n%
vast and numerous, and the number of suliferers
blunted the hangman's sword. For Christ first tri-
umphed over the princes and powers of the world,
before he would admit them to serve him ; he first
felt their malice, before he would make use of theii^
defence ; to shew that it was not his necessity that
required it, but his grace that admitted kings and
queens to he nurses of the church.

Aiid now the church was at ease, and she that
sucked the blood of the martyrs so long, began now
to suck the milk of queens. Indeed it was a great
mercy in appearance, and was so intended, but it
proved not so. But then the Holy Ghost, in pursu-
ance of the design of Christ, who meant by suffering
to perfect his church, as himself was by the same in-
strument, was pleased now that persecution did cease,
to inspire the church with the spirit of mortification
and austerity; and then they made colleges of suffer-
ers, persons who, to secure their inheritance in the
world to come, did cut otf all their portion in this,
excepting so much of it as was necessary to their
present being ; and by instruments of humility,
by patience under, and a voluntary undertaking
of the cross, the burthen of the Lord^ by self-denial,
by fastings and sackcloth, and pernoctations in {)ray-
er, they chose then to exercise the active part

Serm. IX. of the saints. 175

of the religion, mingling it as much as they could
with the sulFcring.

And indeed it is so glorious a thing to be like
Christ, to be dressed like the prince of the catholick
Church, who was a man of sufferings., and to whom a
prosperous and unatllicted person is very unlike, that
in all ages the servants of God have jnit on ihe ar-
mour of righteousness^ on the right hand and on the left ;
that is, in the sufferings of persecution, or the la-
bours of mortification; in patience under the rod of
God, or by election of our own ; by toleration, or
self-denial; by actual martyrdom, or by aptness of
disposition towards it; by dying for Christ, or suffer-
ing for him; by being willing to part witli ail when
he calls for it, and by parting with what we can for
the relief of his poor members. For know this, there
is no state in the church so serene, no days so pros-
perous, in which God does not give to his servants
the powers and opportunities of suffering for him ;
not only they that die for Christ, but they that live
according to his Jaws, shall find some lives to part
with, and many ways to suffer for Christ. To kill
and crucify the old man and all his lusts, to moitify
a beloved sin, to fight against temptations, to do vio-
lence to our bodies, to live chastely, to suffer affronts
patiently, to forgive injuries and debts, to renounce
all prejudice and interest in religion, and to choose
our side for truth's sake, (not because it is piosper-
ous, but because it pleases God) to be charitable be-
yond our power, to reprove our betters with njodesty
and openness, to displease men rather than God, to
be at enmity with the ivorkl that you may preserve
friendship with God, to deny the importunity and
troublesome kindness of a drinking iriend, to own
truth in despite of danger or scorn, to despise shame,
to refuse worldly pleasures when they tempt youv

176 THE PAiTH AND PATfENCB Serm. IX.

soul beyond d'My or safety, to take pains In the cause
of relii^iori, the labour of love., ^u(\ the crossing of your
ani^er. peevishness and morosity ; these are the daily
sufferings of a (.-hristian ; and if we perform them
well, will have the same reward, and an equal smart,
and greater labour than the plain sulfering the hang-
man's sword. Thus I have discoursed, to represent
unto you that you cannot be exempted from the simi-
litude of Christ's sufferings ; that God will shut no
age nor no man from his portion of the cross : that
we cannot fail of the result of this predestination,
nor without our own fault be excluded from the cove-
nant of suiferinofs. Judicment must betrin at Gocfs
house., and enters hrst upon the sons and heu's of the
kiti^dom; and if it be not by the direct persecution
of tyrants, it will be by the direct persecution of the
devil, or infirmities of our own flesh. But because
this was but the secondary meaning of the text, I
return to make use of all the former discourse.

Let no Christian man make any judgment concern-
ing his condition or his cause by the external event of
thin'Ji*s. For althou2:h in the law of Moses, God made
with his people a covenant of temporal prosperity,
and his snints did bind the kings of the JJmorites and
the Philistines in chains., and their nobles with links of
iron, and then, that ivas the honour which all his saints
had: yet in Christ Jesus he made a covenant of sufl'er-
inT^s. Most of the graces of Christianity are suffer-
ing graces, and God hatlj predestinated us to suffer-
ino-s, and we are baptized into suffering, and our
very communions are symbols of our duty, by being
the sacrament of Christ's death and passion ; and
Christ foretold to us tribulation, and promised only
that he would be with us in tribulation, that he would
give us his spirit to assist us at tribunals, and his
grace to despise the world, and to contemn riches,
and boldness to confess every article of the Chris-

Serm. IX. of the saints. ITT

tian faith In the face of armies and armed tyrants.
And he also promised that all things should 'work
together for the best to his servants^ that is, he would
out of the cater bring meat, and out of the strong issue
sweetness, and crowns and sceptres should spring from
crosses, and that the cross itself should stand upon
the globes and sceptres of princes ; but he never
promised to his servants, that they should pursue
kings and destroy armies, that they should reign
over nations, and promote the cause of ./c5W6" Christ
by breaking his commandment. 7Vie shield of faith
and the sword of the spirit., the armour of righteousness,
and the weapons of spiritual warfare, these are they by
which ctu istianity swelled from a small company, and
a less reputation, to possess the chairs of doctors, and
the thrones of princes, and the heaits of all men.
But men in all ages will be tampering with shadows
and toys. The Apostles at no hand could endure to
hear that Christ's kingdom was not of this irorld, and
that their master should die a sad and shameful death ;
though that way he was to receive his crown, and
enter into glory. And after Christ's time, when his
disciples had taken up the cross, and were marching
the king's high way of sorrows, there were a very
great many, even the generality of Chjistians for two
or three ages together, who fell a dreaming that
Christ should come and reign upon earth again
for a thousand years, and then the saints should
reign in all abundance of temporal power and for-
tunes : but these men were content to stay lor it till
after the resurrectioti : in the mean time took up their
cross, and followed after their Lord, the king ofsvff'er-
ings. But now-a-days we find a generation of men
who have changed the covenant of sufferings into
victories, and triumphs, riches and prosperous chances,
and reckon their Christianity by their good fortunes;
VOL. II. 24

I7ii THE FAITH AND PATIENCE SeTTH. IX.

as if Christ had promised to his servants no heaven
hereafter, no spirit in the mean time to refresh their
sorrows: as if he had enjoined them no passive graces;
but as if to be a Christian and to be a Turk were
the same thing. JMahomet entered and possessed
bj the sword : Christ came by the cross, entered
by humihty; and his saints possess their souls by pa-
tience.

God was fain to multiply miracles to make Christ
capable of being a man of sorrows : and shall we
think he will work miracles to make us delicate ? He
promised us a glorious portion hereafter, to which, if
all the sufferings of the world were put together, they
are not worthy to be compared : and shall we, with
Dives, choose our portion o^ good things in this life?
If Christ suffered so many things only that he might
give us glory, shall it be strange that we shall suner
who are to receive his glory ? it is in vain to think
we shall obtain glories at an easier rate, than to
drink of the brook in the way in which Christ was
drenched. When the devil appeared to St. JMartin
in a bright splendid shape, and said he was Christ j
he answered, Christus non nisi in criice apparel suis in
hac vita. And when St. Ignatius was newly tied in
a chain to be led to his martyrdom, he cried out,
JVunc incipio esse Christiamis. And it was observed
by JMiautius Felix., and was indeed a great and ex-
cellent truth, Omnes viri fortes cpios Gentiles praedi-
cabant in exemplum, aerumnis suis inclyti floruerunt ;
the Gentiles in their Avhoie religion never propound-
ed any man imitable, unless the man were poor or
persecuted. Brutus stood for his country's liberty,
but lost his army and his life; Socrates was put to
death for speaking a religious truth: Cato chose to
be on the right side, but happened to fall upon the
oppressed and the injured; he died together with
his party.

Berm. /X. of the saints. 17y

Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.*

And if God thus dealt with the best of heathens, to
whom he had made no clear revelation of immortal
recompences; how little is the iaith, and how much
less is the patience of Christians, if they shall think
much to sutler sorrow, since iliej so clearly see Avith
the eye of faith the great things which are laid up
for them tliat are faithful unto the death ? Faith is
useless, if now in the midst of so great pretended
lights we shall not dare to trust God, unless
we have all in hand tnat we desire ; and suffer
nothing, for all we can hope for. They that live by
sense have no use of faith: yet our Lord Jesus^ con-
cerning whose passions the gospel speaks much, but
little of his glorilications ; whose shame was publick,
whose pains were notorious, but his joys and trans-
figurations were secret, and kept private ; he who
would not suffer his holy mother, whom in great
degrees he exempted from sin, to be exempted from
many and great sorrows ; certainly intends to ad-
mit none to his resurrection but by the doors of his
grave, none to glory but by the way of the cross.
If we be planted into the likeness of his death, we shall
be also of his resurrection, else on no terms. Christ
took away sin from us, but he left us our share of
sufferings ; and the cross, which was first printed
upon us, in the waters of baptism, must for ever be
born by us in penance, in mortification, in self-denial,
and in martyrdom, and toleration, according as God
shall require of us by the changes of the world, and
the condition of the church.

* Lucan. T.ib. i. 128.
The cause victorious pleased the Gods on high,
But for the vanquished, Cato dar'd to die. A.

SoO THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. IX.

For Christ considers nothing but souls, he.vahjes
not their estates or bodies, supplying our want bj his
providence ; and we are secured that our bodies may
be killed, but cannot perish, so long as we preserve
our duty and our consciences. Christ our captain
hangs naked upon the cross : our fellow soldiers are
cast into prison, torn with lions, rent in sunder with
trees returning from their violent bendings, broken
upon wheels, roasted upon grid-irons, and have had
the honour not only to have a good cause, but also to
sufl'er for it; and by faith, not by armies, by patience,
not by fighting, have overcome the world. Et sit ani-
ma mea cum Christianis ; I pray God my soul may be
among the Christians. And yet the Turks have pre-
vailed upon a great part of the Christian world, and
have made them slaves and tributaries, and do them
all spite, and are hugely prosperous : but when Chris-
tians are so, then they are tempted and put in danger,
and never have their duty and their interest so well
secured, as when they lose all for Christ, and are
adorned with wounds or poverty, change or scorn,
affronts or revllings, which are the obelisks and tri-
umphs of a holy cause. Evil men and evil causes had
need have good fortune and great success to support
their persons and their pretences ; for nothing but in-
nocence and Christianity can flourish in a persecution.
1 sum up this first discourse in a Avord : In all the
scripture, and in all the authentick stories of the
church, we find it often that the devil appeared in the
shape of an angel of Uglify hut was never suffered so
much as to counterfeit a persecuted sufferer. Say no
more, therefore, as the murmuring Israelites said. If
the LoPvD be ivith us, tvhy have these evils apprehended
US ? for if to be afflicted be a sign that God hath for-
saken a man, and refuses to own his religion or his
question, then he that oppresses the widow, and mur-
ders the innocent, and puts the fatherless to death, and

Senn. X. of the saints. 181

follows Providence by doing all the evils that he can,
that is, all that God sufiers him, he, 1 say, is the cn!y
saint and servant of God : and upon the same
ground, the wolf and the fox may boast, when they
scatter and devour a flock, of lambs and harmless
sheep.

SERMON X.

PART II.

It follows now, that we inquire concerning the rea-
sons of the divine Providence in this administration
of affairs, so far as he hath been pleased to draw aside
the curtain, and to unfold the leaves of his counsels
and predestination. And for such an inquiry we
have the precedent of the prophet Jeremiah ; Righteous
art thou, O Lord^ ichen I plead with thee ; yet let us
talk to thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way
of the wicked prosper ? wherefore are all they happy that
deal very treacherously ? Thou hast platited them, yea
they have taken root : they grow, yea they bring forth
fruit* Concerning which in general the prophet
Malachi gives this account, after the same complaint
made : And now we call the proud happy^; and they
that work wickedness are set up, yea they that tempt God
are even delivered. They that feared the Lord spake
often one to another ; and the Lord hearkened and heard,
and a book of remembrance was written before him for
fhem that feared the Lord, and thought upon his Jiame.

* Jer. xii. 1. 2.

182 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. X.

j9nd they shall be mine (^saith the Lord of Hosts) in
that day when I bind vp 7ny jewels ; and I will spare
them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Then shall ye return^ and discern between the righteous
and the wicked ; between him that serveth God^ and him
that serveth him not* In this interval which is a val-
ley of tears, it is no wonder if they rejoice who shall
weep for ever; and they that soiv in tears shall have
no cause to complain, when God gathers all the
mourners into his kingdom, they shall reap icithjoy.

For innocence and joy were appointed to dwell
together for ever. And joy went not first, but when
innocence went away, sorrow and sickness dispossess-
ed joy of its habitation ; and now this world must be
always a scene of sorrows, and no joy can grow here
but that which is imaginary and fantastick. There is
no worldly joy, no joy proper for this world, but that
which wicked persons fancy to themselves in the hopes
and designs of iniquity. He that covets his neigh-
bour's wife or land, dreams of fine things, and thinks
it a fair condition to be rich and cursed, to be a beast
and die, or to lie wallowing in his filthiness : But
those holy souls who are not in love with the leprosy
and the itch for the pleasure of scratching, they know
no pleasure can grow from the thorns which Adam
planted in the hedges of Paradise ; and that sorrow
which was brought in by sin, must not go away till
it hath returned us into the first condition of inno-
cence : the same instant that quits us from sin and
the failings of mortality, the same instant wipes all
tears from our eyes ; but that is not in this world.
In the mean time,

God afflicts the godly, that he might manifest many
of his attributes, and his servants exercise many of

their virtues.

\

* Mai. iii. 14, &c.

Serm. X. of the saints. 1{}3

Nee fortiina probat causas, sequiturquc morcntes,
Sed vaga per ciinctos nallo discriniine fertnr :
Scilicet est aliiid quod bos cogatque logatque
Majus, et in piupiias ducat mortalia leges.*

For without sufferings of saints, God should lose
the glories of 1. Brinirino; g-ood out of evil: 2. Of
being luith us in iriuulalion : 3. Of sustaining our in-
firmities : 4. Of triumphing over the malice of his
enemies. 5. W itiiout the suffering of saints, where
were the exaltation of the cross, the conformity of
the members to Christ their head, the coronets of
martyrs? 6. Where were the trial of oitr faith? 7.
Or the exercise of long suffering ? 8. Where were the
opportunities to give God the greatest love, which
cannot be but by dying and suffering for him ? 9.
How should that which the world calls folly prove
the greatest wisdom ? 10. And God be glorified bv
events contrary to the probability and expectation
of their causes? 11. By the suffering of saints,
Christian religion is proved to be most excellent ;
whilst the iniquity and cruelty of the adversaries
proves the illecebra sectae, as TertuUiafi^s phrase is ;
it invites men to consider the secret excellencies of
that religion, /or which and in ichich men are so willing
to die : for that religion must needs be worth look-
ing into, which so many wise and excellent men do
so much value above their lives and fortunes. 12.
That a man's nature is passible, is its best advan-
tage; for by it we are all redeemed : By the passive-
ness and sufferings of our Lord and brother we were
all rescued from the portion of devils; and by our

* Fortune betrays her own capricious faults,
The 2ood oi't vexes, and the bad exalts.
Then let thy prayers to Heaven's high Lord ascend.
Who wounds in mercy, and afflicts to uiend.

184 THK FAITH AND fATIENCK Semi- X-

sufferino- we have a capacity of serving God beyond
that of angels ; who indeed can sing God's praise
with a sweeter note, and obey him with a more un-
abated will, and execute his commands with a swifter
wiiio* and a greater power: but they cannot die for
God, they can lose no lands for him; and he that
did so for all us, and commanded us to do so for him,
is ascended far above all angels, and is heir of a greater
glory. 13. /)o ^Ae-s, awe/ //ye, was the covenant of the
lai'/; but in the gospel it is, Sufer this and live : He
that forsakith house and land, friends and life for my
sake, is my disciple. 14. ^y the sufferings of saints
God chastises their follies and levities, and suffers not
their errours to climb up into heresies, nor their in-
firmities into crimes.

-jratSaf Si Tt vmtoi iyva.

Affliction makes a fool leave his folly. If David num-
bers the people of Judea, God punishes him sharply
and loudly: But [(Augustus Coe^ar numbers all the
world, he is let alone and prospers.

Ille crucem pretium sceleris tulit, hie diadema.f

And in p'iving physick we always call that just and
filling that is useful and profitable : no man complains
of iiis physician's iniquity, if he burns one part to
cure all the body; if the belly be punished to chas-
tise the doods of humour, and the evils of a surfeit.
Punishments can no other way turn into a mercy, but
v/lien they are designed for medicine ; and God is then
very careful of thy soul, when he will suppress every

* Juv. Sat. xiii.. 105.
* The Fool learns wisdom iu affliction's school. A.

f See different fates attend the self-same crime ;
Some made by viilany, and some undone,
And this ascend a scaffold, that a tLrone. Gifforu.

Serm. X. or the saints. 185

of its evils, when it first discomposes the order of
tliings and !>j)iriis. And wliat hurt is it to thee, ifa
persecution draws thee from the vanities of a fornier

f)rosperitv. and foi ces thee into the sobrieties of a holy
ife ? What loss is it? what misery ? Is not the least
sin a greater evil than the greatest of sutlisrings ? God
SMiites some at the beginning of tiieir sin; others not
till a long wliile after it is done. The (irst cannot say
t!mt God is slack in punishing, and have no need to
complain that the wicked are prosperous ; for they
find that God is apt enough to strike: and therefoic,
that he strikes them, and strikes not the other, is not
defect of justice, but because there is not mercy in
store for them that sin and suffer not. 15. For if God
strikes the godly that they may repent, it is no won-
der that God is so good to his servants : but then we
must not call tliat a misery, which God intends to
make an instrument of saving them. And if God
forbears to strike the wicked out of anger, and be-
cause he hath decreed deatii and hell against them,
we have no reason to envy that they ride in a gilded
chariot to the gallows : But if God forbear the wick-
ed, that by his long sufferance they may be invited
to repentance, then we may cease to wonder at the
dispensation, and argue comforts to the afflicted saints,
thus : For if God be so gracious to the wicked, how
much more is he to the godly ? and if sparing the
"wi(;ked be a mercy ; then, smiting the godly being
the expression of his greater kindness, affliction is of
itself the more eligible condition. If God hath some
degrees of kindness for the persecutors, so mucli as
to invite them by kindness; how much greater is hia
love to them that are persecuted ? And therefore
his intercourse with them is also a greater favour ;
and indeed it is the surer way of securing the duty :
fair means may do it, but severity will fix and secure
it. Fair means are more apt to be abused than harsh

VOL. II. 25

186 Tin: iaith a:vd patience Serm, X.

physlck; tliat may be turned into wantonness, but none
but tlie impudent and grown sinners despise all God's
judgments ; and therefore God chuses this way to
deal with his erring servants, that they may obtain
an infallible and a great salvation. And yet if God
spares not his children, how much less the repro-
bates ? and therefore as sparing the latter commonly
is a sad curse, so the smiting the former is a very
great mercy. 16. For by this economy God gives
us a great argument to prove the resurrection, since to
his saints and servants he assigns sorrow for their
present portion. Sorrow cannot be the reward of vir-
tue ; it may be its instrument and hand-maid, but not
its reward ; and therefore It may be intermedial to
some great purposes, but they must look for their por-
tion in the other life : For if in (his life only ice had
hope, then we were of all men the most miserable : It is St.
PauVs argument to prove a beatifical resurrection.
And wo therefore may learn to estimate the state of
the afflicted godly to be a mercy, great in proportion
to the greatness of that reward, which these afflictions
come to secure and to prove.

Nunc ct damna jiivant, sunt ipsa periciila tanti :
Stanlia uon poterant tecta probare deos.*

[t is a great matter, and infinite blessing, to escape
the pains of hell ; and therefore that condition is also
verv blessed which God sends us, to create and to
confirm our hopes of that excellent mercy. 17. The
sufferings of the saints are the sum of Christian philo-
sophy : they are sent to wean us from the vanities and
affections of this world, and to create in us stronsf de-

* Mart. Lib. 1. Ep. 13. v. 11.

To prosperous wealth few signs of grace arc given,
Afflictiou proves the fostering hand of Heaven. A,

Serm. X. of the saints. 187

sires of heaven ; while God causes us to be here treat-
ed rudely, that we may long to be in our country,
where God shall be our portion, and angels our com-
panions, and Christ our perpetual least, and never-
ceasing joy shall be our condition, and entertainment.
O death, how bitter art thou to a man that is at ease and
rest in his possessions !* But he that is uneasy in
his body, and unquiet in his possessions, vexed in his
person, discomposed in his designs, who finds no plea-
sure, no rest here, will be glad to fix his heart
where only he shall have what he can desire, and
what can make him happy. As long as the waters
of persecutions are upon the eaith, so long we dwell
in the ark ; but where the land is dry, the dove it-
self will be tempted to a wandering course of life,
and never to return to the house of her safety.
What shall I say more? 18. Christ nourisheth his
church by sufterings. 19. He hath given a single
blessina: to all other G:races ; but to them that are
persecnted he hatli promised a double one :t it bemg
a double favour, first to be innocent like Christ, and
then to be afilicted like him. 20. Without this, the
miracles of patience, which God hath given to fortify
the spirits of the saints, v/ould signify nothing. JSV
mo enim tolerare tarda velit sine causa, nee potuit sine
Deo: As no man would bear evils without a cause,
so no man could bear so much without the sup-
porting hand of God ; and we need not the Holy
Ghost to so great purposes, if our lot were not Sor-
row and persecution. And therefore without this
condition of suffering, the Spirit of God should lose
that glorious attribute of the Holy Ghost the comforter.
21. Is there any thing more yet ? Yes. They that
have sulfcred or forsaken anv lands for Christ, shall
sit upon the thrones, and judo-e the twelve tribes of /a-
rael ; so said Christ to Iiis disciples. Nay the saints

* Eccles. iv. 11. f Matt. V. 12.

188 ' THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. X*

shall judge angels,, (saitli St. Paul:) well therefore
miij^lit St. Paul £ay, / rejoice excecdino^ly in tribula-
tion. It must be some great thii)g that must make
an afflicted man to rejoice exceedingly ; and so it
was. For since patience is necessary/., that we receive
the promise, and tribulation does woik this; /or a
short time it worketh the consvmmation of our hope, even
an exceeding iveight of glory ; we have no reason to
think it strange concer/iing the fiery trial as if it were
a strange thim^. It cm be no hurt. The church is
like J\'Ljses''s bush, when it is all on fire, it is not at all
consumed, but mddG full of miracle, full of splendour,
full of God : and unless we can find something that
God cannot turn into joy, we have reason not only
to be patient, but rejoi,e, when we are persecuted
in a righteous cause : For, love is the soid of Chris-
tianity, and sneering is the soul of love. To he inno-
cent and to be persecuted, are the body and soul of
Christianity. /, John., your brother, and partaker in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of J esus*
said St. John : those were the titles and ornaments
of his profession : That is, /, John, your fellow-chris-
tian ; that is the plain song of the former descant.
He therefore that is troubled when he is afflicted
in his outward man, that his inward man may grow
strong, like the birds upon the ruins of the shell, and
wonders that a good man should be a beggar, and a
sinner be rich with oppression ; that Lazarus should
die at the gate of Dives, hungry and sick, unpitied
and unrelieved ; may as well wonder that carrion-
crows should ieed themselves fat upon a fair horse,
far better than themselves; or that his own excel-
lent body should be devoured by worms and the
most contemptible creatuies, though it lies there to
be converted into 2;!ory. That man knows nothing
oi' nature, or Providence, or Christianity, or the rewards

* Rev. i. 9.

Serin. X. op thb saints. 189

of virtue., or the nature of its const ifution., or the infrn ti-
tles ofmaiu or the mercies of GocU or the arts and pru-
dence of his loving ki/ia'ness^ or the reitards of heaics,
or the glorifcations of Christ" s cxcdted humanity, or the
prece/its of the gospel^ who is olieiided at the sulierings
of God's dearest servants, ordccJines the honour and
the mercy of sulierings in the cause of righteous-
ness, for the securing of a virtue.^ for the imitation of
Christ and ybr the love of God., or the glories of immor-
tality. It cannot, it ought not, it never will be other-
wise: the world may as well cease to be measuied
by time, as good men to sufler affliction. 1 end
this point with the words of Saint Paul. Let as
many as are perfect be thus minded : and if any man
be otherwise minded., God also will revecd this unto
you;* this, of the covenant of sufferings, concerning
which the old prophets and holy men of the temple
had many thoughts of heart : but in the full sulier-
ings ot the gospel there hath been a full revelation of
the excellency of the sufferings. 1 have now given
you an account of some of those reasons why God
hath so disposed, that at this time, that is, under the
period of the gosye]^ judgment must begin at the house
of God: and thev are either Tiywfm, or ^^v-iiJittni-i, or
fj.teTwm. or imitation of Christ's aut/jov, chastisements., or
trials., or martyrdom^ or a conformity to the sufferings
of the holy Jesus.

But now, besides all the promises, we have anotlier
account to make concerning the prosperity of the
wicked: For if • judgment first begin at us. what shall
the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God ?
that is the question of the apostle, and is the great
instrument of comfort to persons ill-treated in the
actio>is of the world. The lirs ages of the church
lived u^on promises and prophecies ; and because some

*PhiI. iii. 15.

190 THE FAITH AND PATIETTCE »S«rm. X.

of them are already fulfilled for ever, and the others
are of a continual and a successive nature, and are
verified by the actions of every day, therefore we
and all tlie following ages live upon promises and eX'
pcrience. And although the servants of God have
suffered many calamities from the tyranny and pre-
valcncy of evil men their enemies, yet stili it is pre-
served as one of the fundamental truths of Christiani-
ty, that ail the fair fortunes of the wicked are not
enough to make them happy, nor the persecutions of
the godly able to make a good man miserable, nor
yet their sadnesses arguments of God's displeasure
against them. For when a godly man is afflicted and
dies, it is his work and his business ; and if the wick-
ed prevail, that is, if they persecute the godly, it is
but that wliich was to be expected from them : For
who are fit to be hangmen and executioners of pub-
iick wrath, but evil and ungodly persons ? And can
it be a wonder that they, whose cause wants reason,
should betake themselves to the sword ? that what
he cannot persuade, he may wrest ? Only we must
not judge of the things of God by the measures of
men. t* avflgaiT/w, the thinirs ofmenh^xe this world for
their stage and their reward; but the things of God
relate to the world to come : and for our own particu-
lars we are to be guided by rule, and by the end of
all; not by events intermedial, which are varied by
a thousand irrcofular causes. For if all the evil men
in the world were unprosperous, (as most certain
they are) and if all good persons were temporally
blessed, (as most certain they are not ;) yet this
would not move us to become virtuous. If an angel
shoidd come from heaven^ or one arise from the dead
and preach repentance, or justice and temperance,
all this would be ineffectual to those, to whom the
plain doctrines of God, delivered in the law and the
prophets, will not sullicc.

Serm. X, of i-he saints. 191

For why should God work a sign to make us to
believe that we ought to do justice ; if we already be-
lieve he hath commanJed it ? No man can need a
miracle lor the coulirmation of that which he aheady
believes to be the command oi God ; and when God
hatli expressly bidden us to obey every ordinance of man
for the LonPs sake^ the king as supreme^ and his de-
puties as sent hy him; it is a strange infidelity to think,
that a rebellion against the ordinance of God can be
sanctified by the success and prevalency of them that
destroy the authority^ and the person, and the lav:, and
the religion. The sin cannot grow to its heighth if it
be crushed at the beginning; unless it prosper in its
progress, a man cannot eOisWy Jill up the measure oyhis
iniquity : but then that the sin swells to its fullness by
prosperity, and grows too big to be suppressed Avlthout
a miracle, it is so far from excusing or lessening the
sin, that nothing doth so nurse the sin as it. It is not
virtue, because it is prosperous ; but If it had not
been prosperous, the sin could never be so great.

Facere omnia saeve

Non iinpuue licet, nici dum facis *

A little crime is sure to smart ; but when the sinner
is grown rich, and prosperous, and powerful, he gets
impunity,

Jusque datum sceleri f

But that's not Innocence : and if prosperity were
the voice of God to approve an action, tlien no man
were vicious but he that is punished, and nothing
were rebellion but that which cannot be easily sup-
pressed, and no man were a pirate but he that robs

* Perpetual guilt can ne'er unpunished 'scape. A.

t Tha rich patrician claims a right to sin. A.

194 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Semi. X.

with a little vessel, and no man could be a tyrant but
he that Is no prince, and no man an unjust invader of
his neighbour's rights, but he that is beaten and over-
thrown. Then the crime grows big and loud, then it
calls to heaven for vengeance, when it hath been long
a growing, when it hath thrived under the devil's
managing; when God hath long sulfered it, and with
patience, in vain expecting the repentance of a sin-
ner. He that treasures up wrath against the day of
wrath^ that man hath been a prosperous, that is, an
unpunished and a thriving sinner : but then it is the
sin that thrives, not the man : and that is the mistake
upon this whole question ; for the sin cannot thrive,
unless the man goes on without apparent punishment
and restraint. And all that the man gets by it, is, that
by a continual course of sin he is prepared for an in-
tolerable ruin. The spirit of God bids us look upon
the end of these men ; not the way liiey walk, or the in-
struments of that pompous death. When Epaminondas
was asked which of the three was happiest, himself,
Chabrias, or Iphicrates, he bid the man stay till they
were all dead ; for till then that question could not
be answered. He that had seen the Vandals besiege
the city o^ Hippo, and had known the barbarousness
of that unchristcned people, and had observed that
St. jiugustin with all his prayers and vows could not
obtain peace in his own days, not so much as a reprieve
for the persecution, and then had observed St. ^^u-
gustin die with grief that very night, would have
perceived his calamity more visible than the reward of
his piety and holy religion. When Lewis surnamed
Pius went his voyage to Palestine upon a holy end, and
for the glory of God, to light against the Saracens
and Turks and jMamdukes, the world did promise to
themselves that a good cause should thrive in the
bands of so holy a man : but the event was far other-
wise ; his brother Robeit was killed, and his army de-

Berm. X. op the saints. 198

stroyed and himself taken prisoner, and the monej
which by his mother was sent Tor his redemption, was
cast away in a storm, and he was exchanged for the
last town the Cln istians liad in Egypt, and broui ht
home the cross of Christ upon his shoulder in a real
pressure and participation of liis masters sulleiings.
When Charles the Fifth went to //Igicrs to suppress
pirates and unchristened villains, the cause was more
confident than the event was prosperous ; and w hen
he was almost ruined in a prodigious storm, he toid
the minutes of the clock, expecting that at midnight,
when religious persons rose to matins, he sliouid be
eased by the benefit of their prayers : but the provi-
dence of God trod upon those waters, and left no
footsteps for discovery : his navy was beat in pieces,
and his design ended in dishonour, and his life almost
lost by the bargain. Was ever cause more baffled
than the Christian cause by the Turks in all j^sia and
Africa, and some parts of Europe^ if to be persecuted
and afflicted be reckoned a calamity ? What prince
was ever more unfortunate than Henry the sixth of
England? and yet that age saw none more pious and
devout. And the title of the house of Lancaster was
advanced ag^ainst the rio-ht of York for thi ee descents.
But then what was the end of these thinjxs ? The
persecuted men were made saints, and their memo-
ries are preserved in honour, and their souls shall

reign for ever. And some crood men were enaao-ed

111 ^ ^

in a wrong cause, and the good cause was some-
times managed by evil men; till that the suppressed
cause was lifted up by God in the hands of a young
and prosperous prince, and at last both interests
were satisfied in the conjunction of two loses, wliich
was brought to issue by a wonderful chain of causes
managed by the Divine Providence. And there is
no age, no historjs no state, no great change in the
world, but hath ministered an example of an ojjlictccl

VOL. II. 26

194 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. X.

Indlh and a prevailing sin. For I will never more
call that sinner prosperous, who, after he hath been
permitted to finish his business, shall die and perish
miserably ; for at the same rate we may envy tlie
happiness of a poor fisherman, who while his nets
were drying, slept upon the rock, and dreamt that
he was made a king; on a sudden starts up, and
leaping for joy, falls down fiom the rock, and in the
place of his imaginary felicities, loses his little
portion of pleasure and innocent solaces he had
from the sound sleep and little cares of his humble
cottage.

And what is the prosperity of the wicked ? To
dwell in fine houses, or to command armies, or to be
able to oppress their brethren, or to have much
wealth to look on, or many servants to (eed, or much
business to dispatch, and great cares to master;
these things are of themselves neither good nor bad.
But consider, would any man amongst us, looking
and considering before-hand, kill his lawful king, to
be heir of all that which I liave named ? would any
of you chuse to have God angry with you upon
those terms ? would any of you be a perjured man
for it all ? A wise man or a good would not chuse
it. Would any of you die an atheist, that you might
live in plenty and power ? I believe you tremble to
think of it. It cannot therefore be a happiness to
thrive upon the stock of a great sin. For if any
man should contract with an impure spirit, to give
his soul up at a certain day, it may be twenty years
hence, upon the condition he might for twenty years
have his vain desires; should we not think that per-
son infinitely miserable? Every prosperous thriving
sinner is in the same condition; within these twenty
years he shall be thrown into the portion of devils,
but shall never come out thence in twenty millions
©f years. His wealth muot needs sit uneasy upon

Serm. X. op the isaints. 19i

him, that remembers tiiat within a short space he
shall be extremely miserable; and if he does not
remember it, lie does but secure it the more. And
that God deiers the punishment, and supers evil
men to thrive in the opportunities of their sin, it
may and does serve many ends of pioxidence and
mercy, but serves no end that any evil man can rea-
sonably wish or propound to themselves eligible.

Bias said well to a vicious person, A^on metuo ne
non sis daturus poenas. sed mciho ne idnon sim visum s ;
he was sure the man should be punislied, he was not
sure he should live to see it. And though ihc JMcssi-
nians that were betrayed and slain by Aristocratcs in
the battle of Cyprus were not made alive again ; yet
the justice of God was admired, and treason inUnitely
dis.^raced, when twenty years after the treason was
discovered, and the traitor punished with a horrid
death. Lijciscus gave up t!ie Onhomenians to their
enemies, having fust wished his feet, which he then
dipt in water, might rot oif, if he were not true to
i\\vm ; and yet his feet did not rot till those men were
destroyed, and of a long time after; aud yet at last
they did. Slay them not, O Lord, lest my people forget
it^ (sailli David.) If punishment were instantly and
totally inflicted, it would be but a sudden and sin-
gle document ; but a slow and lingering judgment,
and a wrath breakinof outin the next a2:e, is hke an
universal proposition, teaching our posterity that
God was angry all the while, that he had a long in-
di>i:nation in his breast, that he would not foro-et to
take vengeance. And it is a demonstration, that
even the prosperous sins of the present age will find
the same period in the Divine revenge, when men see
a judgment upon the nephews for the sins of their
grandfathers, though in other instances, and for sinis
acted in the days of their ancestors.

196! THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Sevm. X*

Wc know tliat when in Henry the elghtli, or Ed-
ward the sixtfi's days, some great men pulled down
churches and buiit palaces, and robbed rehgion of its
iJJst encoura.'xements and advantaofes ; the men that
did It were sacrilegious : and we find also that God
hath been punishing that great sin ever since ; and
hath displayed to so many generations ot^ men, to
three or four descents of children, that those men
could not be esteemed happy in their great fortunes,
against wliom God was so angry that he would shew
his displeasure for a hundred vears toocthcr. When
Herod had killed the babes of Bethlehem^ it was se-
ven years before God called him to an account; but
he that looks upon the and of that man, would rather
choose the fate of the oppressed babes, than of the
prevailing and triumphing tyrant. It was forty
years before God punished the Jews,, for the execra-
ble murder committed upon the person of their king,
the Holy Jesus ; and it was so long, that when it did
happen, many men attributed it to their killing of
St. James their bishop, and seemed to forget thp
greater crime. But nan eventu rerum, sed Jide vcr-
borum stamus ; we are to stand to the truth of God's
word, not to the event of things: Because God
halh given us a rule, but hath loft the judgment lo
himself; and we die so quickly, (and God measures
all things by his standard of eternity, and a thousand
years to God is as but one day^ that we aie not compe-
ttnt persons to measure tLe times of God's account,
and the returns of judgment. We are dead be-
fore the arrow comes; but the man escapes not, un-
less his soul can die, or that God cannot punish him.
Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in momenlo descendant ad
infernum, that is their fate ; I'hey spend their days in
plmty^ and in a moment descend into hell* In the
mean lime they drink, and Ibrget their sorrow; but

*Jobxxi. 13.

Serm. X. op thb saints. 197

they are condemned : they have drunk their hem-
lock; but the poison does not work yet : the bait is
in their mouths, and they are sportive; but the hook
hath struck tiieir nostrils, and tliey shall never escape
the ruin. And let no man call the man fortunate,
because his execution is deferred for a few days,
when the very deferring shall increase and ascertain
the condenmation.

But it" we should look under the skirt of the pros-
perous and prevailing tyrant, we should find even in
the days of his joys such allays and abatements of his
pleasure, as may serve to represent him presently
miserable^ besides his final inlolicities. t or 1 have
seen a young and healthful person warm and ruddy
under a poor and thin garment, when at the same
time an old rich person liath been cold and paialytick
under a load of sables, and the skins of foxes. It
is the body that makes the clothes warm, not the
clothes the body ; and the spirit of a njan makes
felicity and content, not any spoils of a rich fortune
wrapt about a sickly and an uneasy soul. JipoUodo-
rus was a traitor and a tyrant, and the world won-
dered to see a bad man have so good a fortune ; but
knew not that he nourished scorpions in his breast,
and that his liver and his heart were eaten up with
spectres and images of death : his thoughts were
full of interruptions, his dreams of illusions; his
fancy was abused with real troubles and fantastick
images, imagining that he saw the Scythians slaying
him alive, his daughters like pillars of lire dancing
round about a caldron in which himself was boil-
ino;, and that his heart accused itself to be the
cause of all these evils. And although all tyrants
have not imaginative and fantastick consciences, yet all
tyrants shall die and come to judgment ; and such a
man is not to be feared, not at all to be envied. And
in the mean time can lie be said to escape who hath

198 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE SeVm. X.

an unquiet conscience, who is already designed for
hell, he whom God hates, and the people curse, and
who hath an evil name, and against whom all good
men pray, and many desire to fight, and all wish
him destroyed, and some contrive to do it ? Is this
man a blessed man? Is that man prosperous who
hath stolen a rich robe, and is in fear to have his
throat cut for it, and is fain to defend it with the
greatest dilhculty and tiie greatest danger. Does not
he drink more sweetly that takes his beverage in an
earthen vessel, tban he that looks and scaiches into
his golden chalices foi- fear of poison, and looks pale
at every sudden noise; and sleeps in armour, and
trusts nobody, and does not trust God for his safety,
but does greater wickedness only to escape awhile
unpunished for his former crimes ? j^uro bibitur vcne-
num. No man goes about to poison a poor man's
pitcher, nor lays plots to forage his little garden made
for the hospital of two bee-hives, and the feasting of
a ie\N Pythagorean herb-eaters.

cy« KTnaiv 05-« Trxi'^y >'y.iau navroi

They that admire the happiness of a prosperous, pre-
vailing tyrant, know not the felicities that dwell in
innocent hearts, and poor cottages, and small for-
tunes.

A Christian, so long as he preserves his integrity
to God and to religion, is bold in all accidents, he dares
die, and he dares be poor; but if the persecutor dies,
he is undone. Riches are beholden to our fancies for
their value ; and yet the more we value the riches,

* Ilesiod, Op. Dicr : Lib. 1. v. 10.

The purer Joys of life they never taste ;

The sours mild suosaine aud tiic spare repast. A.

Serm. X. op titk satnts. 199

the less good they are, and by an over-valdinjrafTec-
tion they become our danger and our sin : But on the
other side, deatfi and persecution lose all the ill tjiat
they can have, if we do not set an edge upon tlicn) by
our fears and by our vices. From ourselves riches take
their wealth, and death sharpens liis arrows at our
forges, and we may set their piices as we please;
and if we judge by the spirit of God, we must ac-
count them happy that stijfer ; and therefore that the
f prevailing oppressor, tyrant, or persecutor is iniinitc-
y miserable. Only let Ciod chuse by what instru-
ments he will govern the world, b\ what instf.n-
ces himself would be served, by what ways he wouid
chastise the failings, and exercise the duties, and re-
ward the virtues of his servants. God sometimes
punishes one sin with another ; pride with adultery,
drunkenness with murder, carelessness withirreligion,
idleness with vanity, penury with oppression, irreligion
with blasphemy, and that with atheism : and there-
fore it is no wonder if he punishes a sinner by a sinner.
And if David made use of\illains and profligate per-
sons to frame an army; and 'liniolcon destroyed the
Carthaginians by the help of soldiers who themselves
were sacrilegious; and physicians use poison to ex-
pel poisons; and all commonwealths take the basest
of men to be their instruments of justice and execu-
tions : we shall have no further cause to wonder if
God raises u[) the Assyrian to punish the Israelites^
and the Egyptians to destroy the Assyrians^ and the
Ethiopians to scourge the Egyptians ; and at last
his own hand shall separate tiie good from the bad
in the day of separution, in the day when he makes up
his jewels.

200 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Semi, X»

Hey TOTS nig'-tuvoi Alo;, w
¥.1 Tstyr' e^op&'VTSf

God hath many ends of providence to serve by the
hands of violent and vicious men. l^y them he not
only checks the beginninjr errours and approaching sins
of his predestinate ; but by them he chan»^es govern-
ments, and alters kin:^doms, and is terrible ajriong the
sous of men. For since it is one of his glories to con-
vert evil into good, and that good into his own glory,
and by little and little to open and to turn the leaves
and various folds of providence : it becomes us only
to dwell in duty, and to be silent in our thoughts,
and wary in our discourses of God ; and let him
chuse the time when he will prune his vine, and
when he will burn his thorns; how long he will smite
his servants, and when he will destroy his enemies.
In the days of the primitive persecutions, what
prayers, how many sighings, how many deep groans,
how many bottles of tears did God gather into his
repository, all praying for ease and deliverances,
for halcyon days and fine sun shine, for nursing fathers
and nursing mothers, for publick assemblies and open
and solemn sacraments : And it was three hundred
years before God would hear their prayers: and all
that while the persecuted people were in a cloud,
but they were safe, and knew it not ; and God kept
for them the best wine until the last : they ventured for
a crown, and fought valiantly ; they were faithful to
the death, and they received a croicn of life ; and they

* Soph. Elect. V. 825.
Why sleeps the lightning in the Thunderer's hand ?
Why opes the sun his all-resplendent eye ?
If, conscious of the darino: crimes they view.
They seek not or to puuiiih or reveal.

/SV?*W. X. OF THE SAINTS. 201

arc honoiirotl by God, by angels, and by men.
Whereas in all llie prosperous ai;es of the church,
we hear no stories of such multitudes of saints, no
record of them, no honour to their memorial, no ac-
cident extinordinary ; scarce any made illustrious
■with a miracle, which in the days of suffering were
frequent and popular. And after all our fears of
sequestration and poverty, of death or banishment,
our prayers against the persecution and troubles un-
der it, we may please to remember that twenty
years hence, (it may be sooner, it will not be much
longer) all our cares and our troubles shall be dead;
and then it shall be inquired how we did bear our
sorrows, and who inflicted them, and in what cause :
and then he shall be happy that keeps company
\x\th the persecuted ; and the pcr^ecM/or^ shall be shut
out amoncrst clours and unbelievers.

He that shrinks from the yoke of Christy from the
burthen of the Lord, upon his death-bed will have
cause to remember, that by that time all his persecu-
tions would have been past, and that then there
would remain nothing for him but rest, and crowns,
and sceptres. When Lysimachus, impatient and
overcome with thirst, gave up his kingdom to the
Gefae, being a captive, and having drank a lusty-
draught of wine, and his thirst now gone, he fetched
a deep sigh, and said, Miserable man that I am, who
for so little pleasure, the pleasure of one drcmght, lost so
great a kingdom ! Such will be their case, who, beino-
impatient of suifering, change their persecution into
wealth and an easy fortune : they shall find them-
selves miserable in the separations of eternity, losin^
the glories of heaven for so little a pleasure, illibera-
lis et ingralae voluptafis causa, as Plutarch calls it, for
illiberal and ungrateful pleasure, in which when a
man hath entered, he loses the rights and privileges
and honours of a good man, and gets nothing that is

VOL. II. ^ 27

202 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Sei'm. X.

profitable nnd useful to holy purposes, or necessary
to any ; but is already in a state so hateful and mis-
erable, that he needs neither Cod nor man to be
a revenger, having already under his splendid robe
miseries enough to punish and betray this hypocrisy
of his condition; being troubled with the memory
of v*^ hat is past, distrustful of the present, suspicious
of the future, vicious in their lives, and full of pagean-
try and out-sides, but in their death miserable, Avith
calamities real, eternal and insupportable. And if
it could be otherwise, virtue itself would be reproach-
ed with the calamity.

KlUriTM TttMii
Ol S'l fjiM TTitKlV

^ma-ova-' avTKpovovc SiKH^y
"Efifot t' av AtJ'aic, ttTTdLvrm
t' ti/a-iCtia. S7flT6)y.*

I end with the advice of St. Paul; In yiothing he
terrified of your adversaries ; which to them is an evi-
dent token of perdition^ but to you of salvation, and that
ofGod.-\

*Soph. Elect. V. 246.

If the dead

As earth, and nothing; more, neglected He,

And if no vengeance waits their crimes, farewell

To shame ; farewell to piety 'inongst men.

Potter.

I Phil. i. 28.

Serni. XL op thk saints. 20'

SERMON XI.

PART III.

But now that the persecuted may at least be
pitied, and assisted in tiiat of" which they are capable, I
shall propound some rules by which they may learn
to <2;ather (trapes from their thorns^ and jigs from their
thistles ; crowns f rom the cross, glory from dishonour.
As long as they belong to God, it is necessary that
they sulFer persecution or sorrow ; no rules can teach
them to avoid that : but the evil of the suffering and
the danger must be declined, and we must use some
such spiritual arts as are apt to turn them into health
and medicine. For it were a hard thing, first to be
scourged, and then to be crucified ; to sufibr here,
and to perish hereafter; through the fiery trial and
purging fire of afflictions to pass into hell, that is
intolerable, and to be prevented with the following
cautions ; lest a man suffer like a fool and a malefac-
tor, or inherit damnation for the reward of his impru-
dent suiferinor.

1. They that suffer any thing for Christ, and are
ready to die for him, let them do nothing against him.
For certainly they think too highly of martyrdom,
who believe it able to excuse all the evils of a wicked
life. A man may give his body to be burned^ and yet
have no charity ; and he that dies \vithout charity
dies without God : for God is love. And when those
who fought in the days of the Maccabees for the de-
fence of true religion, and were killed in those holy
wars^ yet being dead, were found having about their
necks ii^viu.*ix, ov pendants consecrated to idols of the
Jammenses ; it much allayed the hope which, by

104 THE FAITH AND PATtENCE Scrm. XL

their dyinc^ in so o;oocl a cause, was entertained con-
cerninjj their beati.iaal res irrection. He that over-
coiQis his fear of death does well ; but if he hath
not a!so overco-ne his lust, or his an^^^r, his baptism
of blood will not wash him clean. Many thinj^s make
a ;nan willing to die in a 2;ood cause: publick re[.>ii-
tatiori, iiope of reward, {gallantry of spirit, a confident
resolution, and a masculine coura;2^e ; or a man may
be vexed in a stubborn and unrelentino; sutfering :
Bat nothing can make a man live well, but the grace
and the love of God. But those persons are infi-
nitely condemned by their last act, who profess their
religion to be worth dyirjg for, and yet are so unwor-
thy as not to live according to its institution. It were
a rare felicity, if every good cause could be managed
by food men only; but we have found that evil men
have spoiled a good cause, but never that a good
cause made those evil men good and holy. If the
governour of »S«???an« had crucified Simon Magus (or
receiving Christian baptism, he had no more died a
martyr, than he lived a saint. For dying is not
enough, and dying in a good cause is not enouirh;
but then only we receive the crown of martyrdom,
when our death is the seal of our life, and our life is
a continual testimony of our duty, and both give tes-
timony to the excellencies of the religion, and glorify
the o-race of God. If a njan be gold, the fire purges
him; but it burns him if he be like stubble, cheap,
light, and useless: For martyrdom is the consum-
mation of love. But then it must be supposed that
this "i-race must have had its beginning, and its seve-
ral stages and periods, and must have passed through
labour to zeal through all the regions of duty to the
perfections of sufferings. And therefore it is a sad
thing to observe, how some empty souls will please
thcinselves with being of such a religion, or such a
cause J and tiiough they disliouour their religion, or

Serm. XL of the saints. 20.'*

weii^'h down the cause with the prcjutllce of sin, be-
lieve all is swallowed up bj one horjouiable name, or
tlie appellative of one virtne. If God had foi bid no-
thing- but heresy and treason, then to have been a loyal
menu or of a good belief ^ liad been enough : but he that
forbad rebelhon forbids all swearing and covetonsness,
rapine and oppression, Ijing and cruelty. And it is
a sad thing to see a man not only to sj)end his /me, and
his icealth, and his moncy^ and his friends upon his
lust, but to spend his sufferings too, to let the canker-
worm of a deadly sin devour his martyrdom. He
therefore that suffers in a good cause, let him be sure
to walk worthy of that honour to which God halh
called him ; let him tirst deny his sins, and then deny
himself and then lie may take ujj his cross and follow
Christ ; ever remembering, that no man pleases God
in his death wh.o hath walked perversely in his life.
2. He that suffers in a cause of God must be in-
different what the instance be, so that he niay serve
God. I say, he nmst be indifferent in the cause, so it
be a cause of God ; and indilferent in the suffering,
so it be of God's appointment. For some men have
a natural aversion to some vices or viitues, and a na-
tural affection to others. One man will die for his
friend, and another will die for his money : Some men
hate to be a rebel, and will die for their prince ; but
tempt them to suffer for the cause of the church, in
which they were baptized, and in whose conin.i;nion
they look for heaven, and then they are tempted, and
fall away. Or if God hath chosen the cause for them,
and they have accepted it, yet themselves will choose
the sufferinor. Rio-bt or wronof, some men will not
endure a prison; and some can yet choose the heavi-
est part of the burthen, the pollution and stain of a sin,
rather than lose their money ; and some had rather
die twice than lose their estates once. In this, our rule
is easy. Let us choose God, and let God choose all the

206 THE FAITH AND PATiEJfCE Serm. XL

rest for us ; It being indifferent to us, whether by po-
verty or shame, by a hngering or a sudden death, by
the hands of a tyrant prince or the despised hands of
a base usurper or a rebel, we receive the crown, and
do honour to God and to religion.

3. Whoever suffer in the cause of God from the
hands of cruel and unreasonable men, let them not be
too forward to prognosticate evil and death to their
enemies ; but let them solace themselves in the assur-
ance of the divine justice, by general consideration,
and in particular, }>ray for them that are our perse-
cutors. JVebnchadnezzar was the rod in the hand of
God a.xainst the Tyrians^ and because he destroyed
tiif^t city, God rewarded him with the spoil oi Egypt:
and it is not always certain that God will be angry
with exery man by whose hand affliction comes upon
us. And sometimes two armies have met and fought,
and the wisest man amongst them could not say that
either of the princes had prevaricated either the laws
of God, or of nations ; and yet it may be, some super-
stitious, easy and half-witted people of either side
wonder that their enemies live so long. And there
are very many cases of war concerning which God
hath declared nothing: and although in such cases he
that yields and quits his title rather than his charity,
and the care of so many lives, is the wisest and the
best man ; yet if neither of them will do so, let us
not decree judgments from heaven in cases where we
have no word from heaven, and thunder from our tribu-
nals where no voice of God hath declared the sentence.
But in such cases where there is an evident tyranny
or injustice, let us do like the good Samaritan^ who
dressed the wounded man, but never pursued the thief:
let us do charity to the afflicted, and bear the cross
with nobleness, and look up to .Jesus, ivho endured the
eras s^ and de'^pisrd the shame : but let us not take upon
us the office of God, who will judge the nations I'ighte-

Serm. XL of the saints. 20?"

oiisly, and when he hath delivered up our bodies, will
rescue our souls from the hands of unrighteous judges.
I remember in the story that Hlutarch tells concern-
ing the soul of Thespeshts^ tiiat it met with a pro-
phetick genius, who told him many tilings that should
happen afterwards in the world ; and the strangest of
all was this, that there should be a king, qui bonus
cum sit^ tyrannide vitam jiniet ; an excellent prince
and a good man should be put to death by a rebel
and usurping power ; and yet that piophetick soul
could not tell that those rebels should within three
years die miserable and accursed deaths. And in
that great prophecy recorded by St. Pmd^ '^1 hat in,
the last days perilous times should come, and men should
be traitors and selfish, having forms of godliness, and
creeping into houses ;* yet he could not teil us when
these men should come to final shanie and ruin ; only
by a general signification he gave this sign of com-
fort to God's persecuted servants. But they shall pro-
ceed no farther, for their folly shall be manifest to all
men :t that is, at long running they shall shame
themselves, and for the elects'' sake those days of evil
shall be shortened. But you and I may be dead first:
And therefore only remember, that they that with
a credulous heart and a loose tono'ue are too dccre-
lory and enunciative of speedy judgments to their ene-
mies, turn their religion into revenge, and therefore
do believe it will be so, because they vehemently de-
sire it should be so; which all wise and good men
ought to suspect, as less agreeing with that ciiarity
wdiich overcomes all the sins and all the evils of the
world, and sits down and rests in glory.

4. Do not trouble yourself by thinking how much
you are afflicted, but consider how much you make
of it: For reflex acts upon the suflfering itself can
lead to nothing but to pride, or to impatience, to

*2 Tiiii. iii. 1, &c. + 2 Tim. iii, 9.

208 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Semi. XL

temptation or apostacy. He tliat measures the
grains and scruples of his persecution, will soon sit
.down and call for ease, or for a reward; will think
the time lon^;? or his burthen great; will be apt to
complain of his condition, or set a greater value
upon his person. Look not back upon him that
strikes thee, but upward to God that supports thee,
and forward to ifie crown that is set before thee : and
then consider, if the loss of thy estate hath tau^^ht
thee to despise the world; whether thy poor fortune
hath made thee poor in spirit; and if thy uneasy pris-
on sets thy soul at liberty, and knocks off the fetters
of a worse captivity. For then the rod of suffering
turns into crowns and sceptres, when every suffering
is a precept, and every change of condition produces
a holy resolution, and the state of sorrows makes the
resolution actual and habitual, permanent and per-
severing. For as the silk-worm eateth itself out of a
seed to become a little worm ; and there feeding on
the leaves of mulberries, it grows till its coat be off,
and then works itself into a house of silk; then cast-
ing Its pearly seeds for the young to breed, it leav-
eth its silk for man, and dieth all white and winged
in the shape of a Hying creature : so is the progress
of souls. When they are regenerate by baptism, and
have cast off their first stains, and the skin of world-
ly vanities by feeding on the leaves of scriptures, and
the fruits of the vine, and the joys of the sacrament,
they incircle themselves in the rich garment of holy
and virtuous habits ; then by leaving their blood,
which is the church's seed, to raise up a new gene-
ration to God, they leave a blessed memory, and fair
example, and are themselves turned into angels,
whose felicity is to do the will of God, as their em-
plovment was in this world to suffer it. Fiat volun-
tas lua is our d;iily prayer, and that is of a passive
sio-niiicatlon : Thy will be done upon us ; and if from

Serm. XI. of the saints. > 209

thence also we translate it Into an active sense, and
by suffering evils increase in our aptnesses to do well,
we have done the work of Christians, and shall re-
ceive the rewards of martyrs.

5. Let our suffering be entertained by a direct
election, not by collateral aids and fantastick assis-
tances. It is a good refreshment to a weak spirit to
suffer in good company : and so Fhocion encouraged
a timorous Greek condemned to die ; and he bid him
be confident, because that he was to die with Pho-
cion : and when forty martyrs in Cappadocia suffered,
and that a soldier standing by came and supphed the
place of the one apostate, who fell from his crown
being overcome with pain, it added warmth to the
frozen confessors, and turned them into consummate
martyrs. But if martyrdom were but a fantastick
thing, or relied upon vain accidents and irregular
chances, it were then very necessary to be assisted
by images of things, and any thing less than the pro-
per instruments of religion : but since it is the great-
est action of the religion, and relies upon the most
excellent promises, and its formality is to be an action
of love, and nothing is more firmly chosen (by an
after-election at least) than an act of love ; to support
martyrdom or the duty of sufferings by false arches
and exteriour circumstances, is to build a tower upon
the beams of the sun, or to set up a wooden ladder to
climb up to heaven ; the soul cannot attain so huge
and unimaginable felicities by chance and instruments
of fancy. And let no man hope to glorify God and
go to heaven by a life of sufferings, unless he first
begin in the love of God, and from thence derive his
choice^ his patience^ and confidence in the causes of vir-
tue and religion, like beams.) and warmth^ and itrfiu-
ence from the body of the sun. Some there are that
fall under the burthen, when they are pressed hard,
because they use not the proper instruments in for-

voL. II. 28

210 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. XL

tifying the will in patience and resignation^ but endeav-
our to lighten the burthen in imagination ; and when
these temporary supporters fail, the building that re-
lies upon them rushes into coldness, recidivation, and
lukewarmness : and among all instances, that of the
main question of the text is of greatest power to
abuse imprudent and less severe persons.

Niillos esse Deos, inane ooelum,

AffirmatCoelius ; probatque,

Quod se videt, dum negat haec, beatum.*

When men choose a good cause upon confidence
that an ill one cannot thrive, that is not for the love
of virtue or duty to God, but for profit and secular
interests, they are easily lost, when they see the
wickedness of the enemy to swell up by impunity
and success to a greater evil : for they have not
learned to distinguish a great growing sin from a
thriving and prosperous fortune.

Ulla si juris tibi pejerati

Poena, Barine, nocuisset unquam ;

Deate si nigro fieres vel uno

Tiirpior ungui ;
Crederem f

*Mart. Lib. iv. Ep. 20.

The Eternal Godhead Coelius bold denies,
And doubts the ruling influence of the skies,
The Heavens, he cries, no signs of vengeance give,
I think w^ith freedom, and in pleasure live.

t Hor. Lib. ii. Od. 8.
If e'er the insulted powers had shed
The slightest vengeance on thy head ;
If but a tooth or nail of thee
W^ere blacken'd by thy perjury.
Again thy felsehood might deceive.
And I the faithless vow believe. Fra.ncis-

^crm. XL of the saints. 211

They that beheve and choose because of Idle fears
and unreasonable fancies, or by mistakinj^ the accounts
of a man for the measures of God, or dare not com-
mit treason for fear of being blasted ; may come to
be tempted when they see a sinner thrive, and are
scandahzed all the way if they die before him ; or
they may come to receive some accidental hardnesses;
and every thing in the world may spoil such per-
sons, and blast their resolutions. Take in all the
aids you can, and if the fancy of the standers-by, or the
hearing of a cock crow, can add any collateral aids
to thy weakness, refuse it not; but let thy state of
sufferings besrm with choice, and be confirmed with
knou'ledgc, and 7'ely upon love, and the aids of God, and
the expecfcitions of heaven, and the present sense of duty ;
and then the action will be as glorious in the event,
as it is prudent in the enterprise, and religious in the
prosecution.

(3. Lastly, when God hath brought thee into
Christ's school, and entered thee into a state of suf-
ferings, remember the advantages of that state : con-
sider how unsavoury the things of the world appear
to thee when thou art under the arrest of death ;
remember with what comforts the spirit of God assists
thy spirit ; set down in thy heart all those inter-
courses which happen between God and thy own
soul, the sweetnesses of religion, the vanity of sins and
appearances, thy newly entertained resolutions, thy
lonerins-s after heaven and all the thinjj-s of God. And
if God finishes thy persecution with death, proceed
in them : if he restores thee to the light of the world,
and a temporal refreshment, change but the scene
of sufferings in an active life, and converse with God
upon the same principles on which in tliy state of
sufferings thou didst build all the parts of duty. If
God restores thee to thy estate, be not less in love
with heaven nor more in love with the woild ; \v\

212 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE. Scrm. XL

thy spirit be now as humble as before it was broken :
and to whatsoever degree of sobriety or austerity
thy suffering condition did enforce thee, if it may be
turned into virtue, when God restores thee, (because
then it was necessary thou shouldest enteitain it by
an after-choice) do it now also by a pre-election ;
that thou mayest say with David, It is ^ood for me
that I have been ajiicted, for thereby I have learned thy
commandments. And Paphnutivs did not do his soul
more advantage, when he lost his rigiit eye, and
suffered his left knee to be cut offfn" Christianity
and the cause of God, than that, in the days of Con-
stantine and the church's peace, he lived (not in the
toleration, but) in the active piety of a martyr's con-
dition; not now a confessor of the faith only, but of
the charity of a Christian. We may every one live to
have need of these rules; and I do not at all think
it safe to pray against it, but to be armed for it : and
to whatsoever degree of suirerings God shall call us,
we see what advantages God intends for us, and
what advantages we ourselves may make of it. I
now proceed to make use of all the tbrmer discourse,
by removing it a little faither even into its utmost
spiritual sense ; which the apostle does in the last
words of the text. If the righteous scarcely be saved^
where shall the wicked and the sinner appear ?

These words are taken out of the Proverbs* ac-
cording to the translation of the LXX. If the righ-
teous scarcely be safe. Wliere the word ^ox/c implies
that he is safe; but by intermedial difficulties: and
<ra,<5T*;, he is safe in the midst of his persecutions ; they
may disturb his rest, and discompose his fancy, but
they are like the fiery chariot to Elias ; he is encir-
cled with fire, and rare circumstances, and strange
usages, but is carried up to heaven in a robe of

*Chap. xi. 31,

Serm. XI. of the saints. 213

Hames. \m] so was JVoah safe when tlic flood came ;
and was the ii^reat type and instance too of the veri-
fication of this j)roj)osition ; he was i <^<jt'"oc and ^f^'K^t/o-
pvv^i Mf^ui, he was put into a strange condition, perpe-
tually wandering, sluit np in a prison of wood, liv-
ing upon faith, having never had the experience of
being safe in floods. And so have I often seen young
and unskih'ul persons sitting in a httle boat, when
every httle wave sporting aljout the sides of the ves-
sel, and every motion and dancing of the barge seem-
ed a danger, and made tljem cling fast upon their
fellows ; and yet all the while they were as safe
as if they sat under a ti"ee, while a gentle wind shak-
ed the leaves into a refreshment and a coolino; shade :
And the unskilful, unexperienced Christian shrieks
out whenever his vessel shakes, thinking it always a
danger, that the watery pavement is not stable and
resident like a rock ; and yet all his danger is in him-
self, none at all from without : for he is indeed mov-
ing upon the waters, but fastened to a rock : faith is
his foundation, and hope is his anchor, and death is
his harbour, and Christ is his pilot, and heaven is his
country; and all the evils of poverty, or affronts
of tribunals and evil judges, of fears and sad appre-
hensions, are but like the loud wind blowing from
the right point, they make a noise, and drive faster to
the harbour : and if we do not leave the ship, and
leap into the sea; quit the interests of religion, and
run to the securities of the world; cut our cables,
and dissolve our hopes ; grow impatient, and hug a
wave, and die in its embraces; we are as safe at sea,
safer in the storm which God sends us, than in a
calm when we are befriended with the world.

2. But ^oxK may also signify raw; If the righteous
is seldom safe: which implies that sometimes he is,
even in a temporal sense. God sometimes sends
halcyon-days to his church, and when he promised

214 THE F-VITH AND PATIENCE. Scmi. XT.

kings and queens to be their nurses., he intended it for a
blessing; and yet this blessing does often-times so
ill-succeed, that it is the greater blessing of the two,
not to give us that blessing too freely. But /umu
this is scarcely done ; and yet sometimes it is, and
God sometimes refreshes languishing piety with such
arguments as comply with our infirmities : and though
it be a shame to us to need such allectives and infant-
gauds, such which the heathen-world and the first
rudiments of the Israelites did need; God, who pities
us, and will be wanting in nothing to us, as he corro-
borates our willing spirits with proper entertainments,
so also he supports our weak iiesh, and not only
cheers an afflicted soul with beams of light, and an-
tepasts and earnests of glory, but is kind also to our
man of flesh and weakness ; and to this purpose he
sends thunderbolts from heaven upon evil men, divid-
ing their tongues, infatuating their councils, cursing
their posterity, and ruining their families.

— — jtXXoTS J' at/ts
'H va; iv Troilifi KpovtJ'K cLvCltnifiM auTcov,*

Sometimes God destroys their armies., or their strong
holds, sometimes breaks their ships. But this hap-
pens either for the weakness of some of his servants,
and their too great aptness to be offended at a pros-
perous iniquity, or when he will not suffer the evil to
grow too great, or for some end of his providence;
and yet if this should be very often, or last long,
God knows the danger, and we should feel the incon-
venience. Of all tiie types of Christ, only Joshua
and Solomon were noted to be generally prosperous :

* Hesiod. Op. Dier. Lib. 1. 118.

Jove wastes their anny, or their city's pride,

Or sinks their navy in the whelming tide. A.

Serm. XI. of the saints. 215

and yet the fortune of the first was to be in perpetual
war and danger; but the other was as himself could
wish it, rich, and peaceful, and powerful, and health-
ful and learned, and beloved, and strong, and amo-
rous, and voluptuous, and so he fell; and though his
fall was, yet his recovery was not, upon record.

And yet the worst of evils that ha})pen to the god-
ly is better, temporally better, than the greatest ex-
ternal felicity of the wicked : that in all senses the
question may be considerable and argumentative. If
the righteous scarcely be saved, ivhere shall the un-
godly appear? if it be hard with good men, with
the evil it shall be far worse. But see the difference.
The godly man is timorous, and yet safe ; tossed
by the seas, and yet safe at anchor; impaired by evil
accidents, and righted by divine comforts ; made sad
with a black cloud, and refreshed with a more gentle
influence; abused by the world, and yet an heir of
heaven; hated by men, and beloved by God; loses
one house, and gets a hundred; he quits a conveni-
ent lodging-room, and purchases a glorious country ;
is forsaken by his friends, but never by a good con-
science; he fares hardly, and sleeps sweetly ; he flies
from his enemies, but hath no distracting fears ; he is
full of thought, but of no amazement: It is his business
to be troubled, and his portion to be comforted; he hath
nothing to afflict him, but the loss of that which might
be his danger, but can never be his good ; and in the
recompense of this he hath God for his father,
Christ for his captain, the Holy Ghost for his^ sup-
porter ; so that he shall have all the good which
God can give him, and of all that good he hath the
Holy Trinity for an earnest and a gage, for his main-
tenance at the present, and his portion to all eternity.
But though Paid and Silas sung psalms in prison,
and under the hangman's whips, and in an earth-
quake ; yet neither the gaoler, nor the persecuting

216 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Semi. XL

magistrates could do so. For the prosperity of the
wicked is like a winter's sun, or the joj of a con-
demned drunkard ; it is a forgetfulness of his present
dano-er, and his future sorrows, nothing but imagina-
ry arts of inadvertency. He sits in the gates of the
city, and judges others, and is condemned himself;
he is honoured by the passers by, and is thought
happy, but /ie sighs deeply ; he heopeth rip riches, arid
cannot tell who shall gather them; he commands an
army and is himself a slave to his passions ; he
sleeps because he needs it, and starts from his unea-
sy pillows which his thoughtful head hath discom-
posed ; when he is waking he dreams of greatness,
when he sleeps he dreams of spectres and illusions:
he spoils a poor man of his lamb, and himself of his
innocence and peace; and in every unjust purchase
himself is the greatest loser.

'Oc cfe )iiv AVTO; «aj)t«/, civcu^iKpi 7n^>ia-itc,

Km Ts a-/uiKp'.v sov, tot' tTru^vann (fiKov »TOf*

For just upon his oppression or injustice he is turn-
ed a devil, and God's enemy, a wolf to his brother,
a greedy admirer of the baits of fishes, and the bread
of dogs ; he is unsafe by reason of his sin : For he
hath against him the displeasure of God, the justice
of the laws, the shame of the sin, the revenge of the
injured person ; and God and men, the laws of na-
tions and private societies stand upon their defence
against this man : he is unsafe in his rest, amazed in
his dangei-, troubled in his labours, weary in his
change, esteemed a base man, disgraced and scorn-
ed, feared and hated, flattered and derided, watch-
ed and suspected, and it may be, dies in the middle

* Hesiod. Op. Di. Lib. 1. 387

Who wrongs another, feels deprived of rest.

The stints of conscience iroad his acbiuz breast. A*

Scrm. XL of the saints. 21 T

of his purchase, and at the end is a fool, and leaves
a curse to his posterity.

He leaves a generation of blacker children behind him:
so the poet dcsciibes tlie cursedness ot their pos-
terity : and their memory sits down to eternal ages
in dishonour. And by this time let them cast up
their accounts, and see if" of ail their violent pur-
chases they carry any thing with them to the grave
but sin, and a guilty conscience, and a polluted
soul ; the anger of God, and the shame of men.
And what help shall all those persons give to thee
in thy ilames, who divided and scattered that estate
for Avhich thou diedst for ever ?

Audire est operae prctium, procedere recte
Qui maochis non viiltis, ut onini parte laborent;
TJtque illis miilto cornipta dolore voliiptas,
Atque haec rara, cadat dura, inter saepe peric'la.f

And let but a sober answerer tell me, if any thing
in the world be more distant either from goodness
or happiness, than to scatter the plague of an ac-
cursed soul upon our dearest children; to make an
universal curse; to be the fountain of a mischief; to
be such a person whom our children and nephews
shall hate, and despise; and curse, when they

* And leaves a race more worthless than himself. A.

t Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 2. v. 37.

All ye who wish some dire misliap may wait

This lustfiil tribe, attend while I relate

Wliat dangers and disasters they sustain;

How few their pleasures, ajid how mix'd with pain.

t'RANCIt.

TOL. II. 29

213 THE FAITH AXD PATIENCE Serm. XL

groan under the burden of that plague which their
fathers sins biought upon the f'amilj. If there
were no other arcount to be given, It were highly
enough to vciifj the intent of my text : If the righ-
teous scarcely be saved, or escape God's angry stroke,
the wicked must needs be infinitely more miserable.

'Elm m«t' iy.oi vio;, vrn K<tH,ov uvSpa. J'iiia.iiv
'BjUjuivttt *

Neither I nor my son (said the oldest of the Greek
poets) would be virtuous, if to be a just person were
all one as to be miserable. No, not only in the end
of affairs, and at sun-set, but all the day long, the
godiy man is happy, and the ungodly and the sinner
is very miserable.

Pellitur a popiilo victus Cato ; tristior ille est
Qui vicit, faciescjiie piidet rapuisse Catoni :
Namque hoc dedecus est populi, moriimque ruina.
Non homo pulsus erat ; sed in uno victa potestas
Romanuiuque decus f

And there needs no other argument to be added
but this one great testimony ; that though the godly
are afflicted and persecuted, yet even they are bless-
ed, and the persecutors are the most unsafe. They

* Hesiod, Op. Dier. Lib. 1. 268.

I wish not virtue for myseH'or mine,

For ill lares virtue in this world malign. A.

f The vanquished Cato, e.xiled from his home,
Feels >;liam(; less keenly tlian the peers of Rome ;
With hi in all morals from their town they chase,
And factious folly seals its own disgrace. A.

Serrn. XL of the saints. 219

are essentially happy wliom affliction cannot make
miserable,

(Quis ciiram ne^et esse tc Dconun,
Propter quora fuit iunoceus ruina ?)*

but turns unto their advantaG^es: and that is the state
of the godly. And they are most intolerably accursed
who have no portions in the blessings of eternity, and
yet cannot have comiorl in the present purchases of
their sin, to whom even their sun-shine brings a
drou2:ht, and their fairest is their foulest weather : and
that is the pojtion of tfie sinner and the ungodly. 1 he
irod/y are not made vnhappy by their sorrows : and the
wicked are such ichom prosperity itself cannot make
fortunate.

3. And yet after all this, it is but y.'ixuau^iTo.i, not /mowc
ra)9i.7«T4/. he escapes hut hardhj here : it will he well
enouijh with him hereafter. Isaac diffffed three wells.
The first was called contention ; for he drank the wa-
ters of strife, and digged the well with his sword.
The second Avell was not altogether so hard a pur-
chase, he got it with some trouble; but that being
over, he had some room and his fortune swelled, and
he called his well enlargement. But bis third he cal-
led ahundance ; and then he dipt his foot in oil, and
drank freely as out of a river. Every good man hrst
sows in tears.) he first drinks of the bottle of his own
tears, sorrow and trouble, labour and disquiet, striv-
ings and temptations : but If they pass through a
torrent, and virtue becomes easy and habitual, they
find their hearts enlarged and made sprightly by the
visitations of God, and refreshment of his spirit ;
and then their hearts are enlarged, they know how

* That yon are Heaven's chief care is eloar to all,

Who 'scap'd the vengeance of the falling wa)l. A.

220 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE SemU XI.

to gather the down and softness from the sharpest
thistles.

K«< T/W^UC TO TTgCBTOV *

At first we cannot serve God but by passions and
doing violence to all our wilder inclinations, and suf-
fering the violence of tyrants and unjust persons :

tTTHV eJ" U; UKpOV IXHttt,

'Pw«fi« J" UTTilTa. TTiKu, ■)^ci.\'cnyi Trig soutrat.*

The second days of virtue are pleasant and easy in
the midst of all the appendant labours. But when the
Christian's last pit is dug-, v\'hen he is descended to
his grave, and hath finibhed his state of sorrows and
suffering; then God opens the river of abundance, the
rivers of life and never ceasini]: felicities, knd this is
that which God promised to his people: I hid my face
from thee for a moment^ but with everlasting kindness
will 1 have mercy on thee^ saith the Lord thy redeemer. '\
So much as moments are exceeded by eternity, and
the sighing of a man by the joys of an angel, and a
salutary frown by the light of God's countenance, a
{g\n groans by the infinite and eternal hallelujahs;
so much are the sorrows of the godly to be under-
valued in respect of what is deposited for them in the
treasures of eternity. Their sorrows can die, but so
cannot their joys. And if the blessed martyrs and

* Hcsiod, Op. Dier. Lib. 1. 287.

To virtue's temple, so the Gods ordain,

The road is trod wilh labour and with pain;

The summit raaster'd, every hardship flics,

The ways grow smooth, and velvet lawns arise. A.

t Isaiah liv. 8.

Serm. XI. of the saints. 221

confessors were asked concerning their past suffer-
ings and their present rest, and the joys of their cer-
tain expectation, )ou should hear them glory in no-
thing but in the mercies of God, and in the cross of the
Lord Jesus. Every chain is a ray of light, and every
prison is a palace, and every loss is the purchase of
a kingdom, and every aftVont in the cause of God is
an eternal honour, and every day of sorrow is a
thousand years of comfort, multiplied with a never
ceasmg numeration ; days without night, joys with-
out sorrow, sanctity without sin, charity without
stain, possession without fear, society without en-
vying, communication of joys without lessening :
and they shall dwell in a blessed country, where an
enemy never entered, and from whence a friend
never went away. Well might David say, Funes
ceciderunt miki in praeclaris, the cords of my tent (my
ropes and the sorrow of my pilgrimage) y'f// /o 7?26 in
a good ground., and 1 have a goodly heritage. And
wiien persecution hews a man down from a high for-
tune to an even one, or from thence to the lace of
the earth, or from tiience to the grave ; a good man
is but piepaiing for a crown, and the tyrant does
but hrst knock otf the fetters of the soul, the mana-
cles of passion and desire, sensual loves and lower
appetites : and if God sutfers him to finish the perse-
cution, then he can but dismantle the soul's prison,
and let the soul forth to fly to the mountains ot
rest: and ail the intermedial evils are but like the
Persian punishments; the executioner tore off their
hairs, and rent tlicir silken mantles, and discomposed
their curious dressings, and lightly touched the skin,
yet the offender cried out with most bitter exclama-
tions, wliile his fault was expiated with a ceremony
and without blood. So does God to his servants;
he rends their upper garments, and strips them of
their unnecessary wealth, and ties them to physick
and salutary discipline ; and they cry out under usages

222 THE FAITH AND PATIENCE Serm. XI,

which have nothing but the outward sense and opi-
nion of evil, not the real substance. But if we would
take the measures of images, we must not take the
height of the base, but the proportion of the members;
nor yet measure the estates of men by their big-iook-
ing supporter, or the circumstance of an exteriour ad-
vantage, but by its proper coramensuration in itself,
as it stands in its order to eternity : And then the
godly man, that suffers sorrow and persecution, ought
to be relieved by us, but needs not be pitied in the
sum of aifairs. But since the two estates of the
world are measured by time and by eternity, and di-
vided by joy and sorrow, and no man shall have his
portion of joys in both durations ; the state of those
men ks insupportably mis< rable who are fatted for
slaughter, and are crowned like beasts for sacrihce;
who are feared and fear, who cannot enjoy their pur-
chases but by communications with others, and them-
selves have the least share, but themselves are alone
in the misery, and the saddest dangers, and they
possess the whole portion of sorrows; to whom their
prosperity gives but occasions to evil counsels, and
strength to do mischief, or to nourish a serpent, or
oppress a neighbour, or to nurse a lust, to increase
folly, and treasure up calamity. And did ever any
man see, or story tell, that any tyrant prince kissed
his rods and axes, his sword of justice and his impe-
rial ensigns of power ? They shine like a taper, to
all things but itself. But we read of many martyrs
who kissed their chains, and hugged their stakes,
and saluted their hangmen with great endearments;
and yet, abating the incursions of their seldom sins,
these are their greatest evils : and such they are
with which a wise and a good man may be in love.
And till the sinners and ungodly men can be so with
their deep groans and broken sleeps, with the wrath
of God and their portions of eternity; till they can

Serm. XL op the saints. 223

rejoice In death and long for a resurrection, and
with deliglit and a greedy liope can think of the day
of iudffment : we mustcorjclude thiit their jrlass gems
and linest pageantry, then- spU:;ndid out-sides and
great powers of evil, cannot make amends foi' that
estate of misery which is their portion, with a certainty
as great as is ihe truth of God, and all the articles
of the Christian creed. Miserable men are they who
cannot be blessed, unless there be no day of judg-
ment; who must perish, unless the word of God
should fail. If that be all their hopes, then we may
"with a sad spirit and a soul of pity inquire into the
question of the text. Where shall the ung-oclly and sin-
ner appear ? Even there where God's face shall never
shine, where there shall be fire and no light, where
there shall be no angels, but what are many thou-
sand years turned into devils, where no good man
shall ever dwell, and from whence the evil and the
accursed shall never be dismissed. 0 my God, lei my
soul never come into their counsels, nor lie down in their
sorrows.

SERMON Xli.

THB i

MERCY OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENTS

OR,

GOD'S METHOD IN CURING SINNERS.

Romans ii. 4.

Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long^
siifFerin<;, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance ?

From the beginninj^ of time till now, all effluxes
which have come from God have been nothing but
emanations of his goodness clothed in variety of cir-
cumstances. He made man with no other design
than that man should be happy, and by receiving
derivations from his fountain of mercy, might reflect
glory to him. And therefore God making man for
his own glory, made also a paradise for man's use ;
and did him good, to invite him to do himself a great-
er : for God gave forth demonstrations of his pow-
er by instances of mercy, and he who might have
made ten thousand worlds of wonder and prodigy,
and created man with faculties able only to stare upon
and admire those miracles of mightiness, did choose

S^erm. Xll. the mercy, &c. S25

to instance his power in the effusions of mercy, that
at the same instant he might rcjDresent himself de-
sirable and adorable, in all the capacities of amia-
bility ; viz. as excellent in himselj\ and profiiuble to us.
For as the sun sends forth a benign ajid gentle in-
fluence on the seed of ];lants, that it may invite forth
the active and plastick power froai its recess and
secrecy, that by rising into the tallness and dimen-
sions of a tree it may still receive a greater and
more refreshing influence from its fosterfather, the
prince of all the bodies of light ; and in all these
emanations the sun itself receives no advantaQ-e, but
the honour of doing betiefits: so doth the Almighty
Father of ail the creatures; heat first sends forth
his blessings upon us, that we by using them aright
should make oui selves capable of greater; wiiile
the giving glory to God, and doing homage to him,
are nothing for liis advantage, but only for ours;
our duties towards hini being hke vapours ascending
from the earth, not at all to refi esh the remon oi the
clouds, but to jetdrn back in a fruitful and refreshin«:
shower; and God cjeated us, not that we can in-
crease his felicity, but that he might have a subject
receptive of felicity from hlmi Thus he causes us
to be born, that we may be capable of his blessings;
he causes us to be baptized, that we may have a title
to the glorious promises evangelical ; he gives us
his son, that we may be rescued from hell. And
when we constrain him to use harsh courses towards
us, it is also in mercy : he smites us to cure a dis-
ease; he sends us sickness, to procure our health.
And as if God were all mercy, he is merciful in his
first design, in all his instruments, in the way, and
in the end of the journey ; and does not only shew
the riches of his goodness to them that do ivcll^ but
to all men that they may do well: He is good, to
make us good ; he does us benefits, to make us hap-
voL. II. 30

226 THE MERcy OF THE Semi. XIL

py. And if we, by despising such gracious rajs of
lifflit and heat, .slop their progress and interrupt their
desi >'n, the ioss is not God's, butouTs; we shall be the
miserable and accursed people. This is the sense
and paraphrase of my text; Despisest thou the riches
of his goodness^ S{c ? Thou dost not know, that is, thou
considerest not, that it is for farther benefit that
God does thee this: the goodness of God is not
a desit'^n to serve his own ends upon thee, but thine
upon him : The goodness of God Icadeth thee to re-
pentance.

Here then is God''s method of curing mankind^

y^^^iit^TOTyi!, d.vox», fAempo^-j/uia.. Fu'St, gOodueSS, OV iuvitiug US

to him by sugared words, by the placid aiguments
of temporal favour, and the propositions of excel-
lent promises. Secondly, tvox", at the same time^
Although God is provoked every day, yet he does
cinx»vAie tolerates our stubbornness, he forbears to pun-
ish ; and when he does begin to strike, takes his
hand olT, and gives us truce and respite. For so
ctvox!^, signifies /a J^f/mew^wm, ^.nd inducias too. Thirdly,
fActKp'.Suf^iia., still a long putting off and deferring his
final destroying anger, by using all means to force us
to repentance; and this especially by the way of
judgments; these being the last reserves of the
divine mercy, and however we esteem it, is the great-
est instance of the divine long suffering that is in
the world. x\fter these instruments, we may con-
sider the end, the strand upon which these land us,
the purpose of this variety, of these labours and
admirable arts, with which God so studies and con-
trives the happiness and salvation of man : it is only
that man may be brought by these means unto re-
pentance, and by repentance may be brought to
eternal life. This is the treasure of the divine good-
ness, the great and admirable cffiux of the eternal
beneficence, the ttmutos ;ts«(rT6T«7of, the riches of his goodnes&y

Serm. XII. divine judgments. 227

which whosoever despises, despises himself and the
groat interest of his own feiicity ; he shall die in his
impenitence, and perish in his folly.

1. The first gi-eat instiument that God chooses to
bring us to him, is ;t§''<rTOT),!r, profile or benefit ; and this
must needs be (irst, for those instruments whereby we
have a being are so great mercies, that besides that
they are such which give us the capacities of all other
mercies, they are the advances of us in the greatest
instances of promotion in the world. For from no-
thing to something is an inlinite space : and a man
must have a measure of infinite passed upon him, be-
fore he can perceive himself to be either happy or
miserable: he is not able to give God thanks for one
blessing, until he hath received many. But then
God intends we should enter upon his service at the
beginning of our days, because even then he is be-
fore-hand with us, and hath already given us great
instances of his goodness. What a prodigy of favour
is it to us, that he hath passed by so many forms of
his creatures, and hath not set us down in the rank
of any of them, till we came to be paulo minor es an-
gelis^ a little lower than the angels? and yet from the
meanest of them God can perfect his own praise.
The deeps and the snows, the hail and the rain, the
birds of the air and the fishes of the sea, they can
and do glorify God, and give him praise in their ca-
pacity ; and yet he gave them no speech, no reason,
no immortal spirit, or capacity of eternal blessedness :
But he hath distinguished us from them by the ab-
solute issues of his predestination, and hath given us
a lasting and eternal spirit, excellent organs of per-
ception, and wonderful Instruments of expression,
that we may join in consort with the morning star,
and bear a part in the chorus with the angels of light,
to sing hallelujah to the great Father of men and
ano-eis.

223 THE MERCY OF THiB Scrm. XII

But was it not a hii^e chain of merries, that we
were not stran:>led in the re2;ions ol our own naluial
impurities; but W€re sustaifiec! by the breath of God
from porishinof in the womb, where God formed us
in secrcto terrae^ told our bones, and kept the order
of nature, and the miracles of creation; and we lived
upon that which in the next minute after we were
born would strangle us if it were not removed ? but
then God took care of us, and his hands of provi-
dence clothed us and fed us. But why do I reckon
the mercies of production, which in every minute of
our being are alike and continued, and are miracles
in all serjses, but that they are common and usual ?
I only desire you to remember, that God made all
the works of his hands to serve him. And indeed,
this mercy of creating us such as we are, was not
to lead us to repentance^ but was a desi2;n ol innocence :
lie intended we should serve him as the sun and the
moon do, as fire and water do; never to prevaricate
the laws he fixed to us, that we miaht have needed
110 repentance. But since w^e did degenerate, and
being by God made bet!er and more noble creatures
than all the inhabitants of the air, the water and the
earth besides, we made ourselves baser and moie ig-
noble than any : For no dog, crocodile, or swine was
ever God's enemy, as we made ourselves. Yet then
from thenceforward God began his work oi leading
us to repentance^ by the riches of his goodness. He
causes us to be born of Christian parents, under whom
wo were taught the mysteriousness of its goodness
and designs for the redemption of man ; and by the
design of which religion, repentance Avas taught to
mankind, and an excellent law given for distinction
of good and evil. And this is a blessing, which though
possibly we do not often put into our eucharistical
litanies to give God thanks lor; yet if we sadly con-
sider what had become of us, if we had been born

Serm. Xif. divixe judgments. 229

under the dominion of a Tnrkishlovd^ov in JJmerica^
where no Christians do inhabit, where they worship
the devil, where witches are their priests, their pro-
phets, their physicians, and their oracles; can we
choose but apprehend a visible notorious necessity of
perishing in those sins, which we then should not have
understood by the glass of a divine law to have de-
clined, nor by a revelation have been taught to
repent of? But since the best of men does in the
midst of all the great advantaijcs of laivs and ex-
amples^ and promises^ and thrcatenings^ do many things
he ought to be ashamed of, and needs to repent of:
we can understand the riches of the divine goodness
best, by considering that the very design of our birth
and education in the Cluistian religion is, that we may
recover of and cure our follies by the antidote of re-
pentance, which is preached to us as a doctrine, and
propounded as a favour; which was put into a law,
and purchased for us by a great expense ; which God
does not more command to us as a dutv, than he o-ives
US as a blessing. For now that we shall not perish for
our first follies, but be admitted to ncAV conditions, to
be repaired by second thoughts, to have our infirmi-
ties excused, and our sins forgiven, our habits lessen-
ed, and our malice cured, after we were wounded, and
sick, and dead, and buried, and in the possession of
the devil ; this was such a blessing, so great riches of
the divine goodness, that as it was taught to no reli-
gion but the Christian, revealed by no lawgiver but
Christ, so it was a favour greater than ever God gave
to the angels and devils : For although God was rich
in the effusion of his goodness towards them, yet they
were not admitted to the condition of second thoughts ;
Christ never shed one drop of blood for them, his
goodness did not lead tliem to repentance : but to us it
was, that he made this largess of his goodness; tons,
to whom he made himself a brother, and sucked the

230 THE MERCT OF THE Semi. XIL

paps of our mother ; he payed the scores of our sin,
and shame, and death, only that we might be admitted
to repent, and that this repentance might be effectual
to the great Durposes of felicity and salvation. And
if we would consider this sadly, it might make us bet-
ter to understand our madness and folly in refusing to
repent ; that is, to be sorrowful, and to leave all our
sins, and to make amends by a holy life. For that we
mifht be admitted and suffered to do so, God was fain
to pour forth all the riches of his goodness : It cost
our dearest lord the price of his dearest blood, many
a thousand groans, millions of prayers and sighs, and
at this instant he is praying for our repentance; nay,
he hath prayed for our repentance these sixteen hun-
dred years incessantly, night and day, and shall do so
till dooms-day ; He sits at the right hand of God 7naking
intercession for us. And that we may know what he
prays for, he hath sent us ambassadors to declare the
purpose of all his design ; for St. Paul saith. We are
ambassadors for Christy as though he did beseech you by
us ; ive pray you in Christ'' s stead to be reconciled to
God. The purpose of our embassy and ministry is a
prosecution of the mercies of God, and the work of
redemption, and the intercession and mediation of
Christ : it is the work of atonement and reconcilia-
tion that God designed, and Christ died for, and still
prays lor, and we preach for, and you all must labour
for.

And therefore here consider, if it be not infinite
imoiety to despise the riches o/such a goodness^ which
at so great a charge, with such infinite labour and
deep mysterious arts, invites us to repentance ; that
is, to such a thing as could not be granted to us unless
Christ should die to purchase it; such a glorious
favoijr, that is the issue of Christ's prayers in heaven,
and of all his labours, his sorrows and his sufferings
on earth. If we refuse to repent now, we do not s»

Serni. XIL divine judgments. 281

much refuse to do our own duty, as to accept of a
reward. It is the i^rcatest and the dearest blessinor-
that ever God gave to men, tliat they may repent:
and therefore to deny or delay it, is to refuse health,
brought us by the skill and industry of the physician;
it is to refuse liberty indulged to us by our gracious
Lord. And certainly we had reason to take it very
ill, if at a great expense we should purchase a par-
don for a servant, and he out of a peevish pride or
negligence shall refuse it ; the scorn pays itself, the
folly is its own scourge, andsitsdown in an inglorious
ruin.

After the enumeration of these glories, these pro-
dis^ies of mercies and loving-kindnesses, of Christ's
dying for us, and iiiterceding for us, and merely that
we may repent and be saved ; I shall less need to in-
stance those other particularities whereby God con-
tinues, as by so many arguments of kindness, to
sweeten our natures, and make them malleable to the
precepts of Love and Obedience^ the twin-daughters
of holy Repentance: but the poorest person amongst
us, besides the blessings and graces already reckon-
ed, hath enough about him, and the accidents of
every day, to shame him into repentance. Does not
God send his angels to keep thee in all thy ways ? are
not they ministering spirits sent forth to wait upon
thee as thy guard } art not thou kept from drown-
ing, from fracture of bones, from madness, from de-
formities, by the riches of the divine goodness? Tell
the joints of thy body, dost thou want a linger } and
if thou dost understand how great a blessing that is,
do but remember how ill thou canst spare the use of
it when thou hast but a thorn in it. The very pri-
vative blessings, the blessings of immunity, safeguard,
and integrity, which we all enjoy, deserve a thanks-
giving of a whole life. If God should send a cancer
upon thy face, or a wolf into thy breast, if he should

232 THE MERCY OP THE Serm. XII^

spread a crust of leprosy upon thy skin, what wouldest
thou give to be but as now thou art ? Wouldest not
thou repent of thy sins upon that condition ? Which is
the greater blessing ? To be kept from them, or to be
cured of them ? And why therefore shall not this
greater blessing lead thee to repentance ? W hy do
we, not so aptly, promise repentance when we arc
sick, upon the condition to be made well, and yet
perpetually forget it when we are well ? As if health
never were a blessing but when we have it not.
Kather I fear the reason is, when we are sick we
promise to repent, because then we cannot sin the
sins of our former life ; but in health our appetites
return to their capacity, and in all the way we de-
spise the riches of the divine goochi ess, which preserves
us froDi such evils, which would be full of horrour
and amazement, if they should happen to us.

Hath God made any of you all chap-failen ? Are
you affrighted with spectres and illusions of the
spirits of darkness ? How many earthquakes have
you been in ? How many days have any of you want-
ed bread ? How many nights have you been without
sleep ? Are any of you distracted of your senses ?
And if God gives you meat and drink, health, and
sleep, proper seasons of the year, entire senses, and an
useful unilerstanding ; what a great un worthiness is it
to be unthankful to so good a God, so benign a Fa-
ther, so gracious a Lord ? All the evils and baseness
of the world can shcAV nothing baser and more un-
worthy than ingratitude : and therefore it was not
unreasonably said of Aristotle^ "Evrvxr-^ <ptM^au Prospe-
rity makes a man love God, supposing men to have so
much humanity left in them, as to love him from
whwm they have received so many favours. And
Hipnocrates said, that although poor men used to
murmur against God, yet rich men wi'l he offering
sacrifice to their deity, whose beneficiaries they are.

Serm. Xll. divine judgments. 233

Now since the riches of the divine goodness are so
poured out upon the meanest of us all, if we shall re-
fuse to repent, (which is a condition so reasonable
that God requires it only for our sake, and that it
may end in our felicity) we do ourselves despite, to
be unthankful to God ; that is, we become miserable,
by making ourselves basely criminal. And if any
man, with whom God hath used to no other method
but of his sweetness and the effusions of mercies,
brinii;s no other fruits but /he apples of Sodom in re-
turn of all his culture and labours ; (lod will cut off
thtit unprofitable branch, that with Sodom it may suf-
fer the flames of everlasting burning.

'0<M av TOt/c S'Av vl'ic, a> 'SimipctTt,

If here we have good things, and a continual show-
er of blessings to soften our stony hearts, and we shall
remain obdurate against those sermons of mercy which
God makes us every day, there will come a time when
this shall be upbraided to us, that we had not vow ctvtmTrov,
a thankful mind, but made God to sow his seed upon
the sand or upon the stones, without increase, or res-
titution. It was a sad alarm which God sent to David
by JVathan^ to upbraid his ingi atit ude : / anointed
thee king over IsraeL I delivered thee ovt of the hand of
SauU I gave thee thy maiter''s house and wives into thy
bosom^ and the house of Israel and Judah ; and if this
had been too little^ I would have given thee such and
such things : wherefore hast thou despised the name of
the Lord ? But how inhnitely more can God say to

* Thiukst thou, Niceratus, the guilty dead,
When all the luxuries of life are fled,
Shall 'scape sulphureous flames of penal fire? A;

VOL. IT. 31

234 THE MERCV OF THE Scrm. XII.

all of us than all this came to ; lie hath anointed us
kin<;s and priests in the royal priesthood o^ Q\\Y\'A\\:xmXy ;
he hath ^iven us his holy spirit to be our guide, his
an9;els to be our protectors, his creatures for our food
and raiment; he hath dehvered us from the hands of
satan, hath conquered death for us, hath taken the
sting out, and made it harmless and medicinal, and
proclaimed us heirs of heaven, co-heirs with the eter-
nal Jesus : and if after all this we despise the com-
mandment of the Lord, and defer and neglect our
repentance, what shame is areat enough, what miseries
ai'6 sharp enough, what hel! painful enough, for such
horrid ingratitude? St. Lewis the king, having sent
Ivo bishop of Chartres on an embassy, the bishop met
a woman on the way, grave, sad, fantasfick and melan-
cholick, with fire in one hand, and water in the other.
He asked what those symbols meant. She answered,
My purpose is with fire to burn Paradise, and with
my water to quench the flames of hell, that men may
serve God without the inrentives of hope and fear,
and purely for the love of God. But this woman be-
gan at the wrong end : The love of God is not pro-
duced in us. after we have contracted evil habits, till
God with his fan in his hand hath thoroughli/ purged
the floor, till he hath cast out ail the devils, and swept
the house with the Instrument of hope and fear, and
with the achievements and t filcacy of mercies and
judjxrnents. But then since God may truly say to us,
as of old to his rebellious people, JJm I a dry tree to
the house of Israel? that is, do 1 bring them no fruit }
do they serve me for nought ? and he expects not our
duty till fii'st we feel his goodness; we are now infi-
nitely inexcusable to throw away so great riches, to
despise such a goodness.

However, that we may see the greatness of this
treasure of goodness, God seldom leaves us thus : for
he sees : (be it spoken to the shame of our natures,
and the dishonour of our manners) he sees that his

Serm. XII. divine judgments. 235

mercies do not allure us, do not make us thankful, but
(as the Roman said) F^liritate corrumptmuu We be-
come worse for God's merry, and think it will be al-
ways hoiydaj ; and are like the chrjstal of Arabia,
hardened not by cold, but made crusty and stubborn
by the warmth of the divine fire, by Its refreshments
and mercies : Therefore, to demonstrate that God is
good indeed, he continues his mercies still to us, hut
in another instance ; he is merciful to us in punisliing
us, that we may be led to repentance by such instru-
ments which will scare us from sin; he delivers us up
to the pedagogy of the divine judgments : and there
begins the second part of God's method, intimated in
the word uvoxm or forbearance. God begins his cure
by caustlcks, by incisions and instruments of vexa-
tion, to try if the disease that will not vield to the
allectlves of cordials and perfumes, frictions and
baths, may be forced cut by deletories, scarlhcatlons,
and more salutary, but least pleasing physlck.

2. Avox'i, forbearance, it is called in the text ; which
siffuilies laxameutum or inducias : that is, when the

o ...

decrees of the divine judgments temporal are gone
out, either wholly to suspend the execution of them,
which is induciae or a reprieve ; or else, when God
hath struck once or twice, betakes otl his hand, that
is laxamenlum, an ease or remission of his judgment.
In both these, although in judgment God remembers
mercij, yet we are under discipline, we are brought
into tiie penitential chamber ; at least we are shewed
the rod of God ; and if, like Jljoses^s lod, it turns us
into serpents, and that we repent not, but grow more
devils ; yet then it turns into a rod again, and iinishes
up the smiting, or the first designed ailllctlon.

But 1 consider it first in general, 1 he riches of
the divine goodness is manifest in beginning this
new method of curing us, by severity and by a rod^
And that you may not wonder that { expound thisybr-

236 THE MERCY OF THE Sevm. XIL

bearance to be an act of mercy punishing^ I observe,
that besides that the word supposes the method
changed, and it is a mercy about judgments, and their
manner of execution ; it is also in the nature of the
thing, in the conjunction of circumstances and the
designs of God, a mercy when he threatens us or
strikes us into repentance.

We think that the way of blessings and prosperous
accidents is the finer way of securing our duty ; and
that when our heads are anointech our mips crowned^
and our tables fidl,^ the very caresses of our spirits will
best of all dance before the ark, and sing perpetual
anthems to the honour of our benefactor and patron^
God : and we are apt to dream that God will make
his saints reio;n here as kings in a millenary kingdom,
and give them the riches and fortunes of this world,
that they may rule over men, and sing psalms to God
for ever. But 1 remember what Xenophanes says of
God,

ovTi SffActg dyhTOKriv ofjLoiio;, ovn von /ma..*

God is like to men neither in shape nor in counsel ; he
knows that his mercies confirm some, and encourage
more, but they convert but few ; alone they lead men
to dissolution of manners, and forgctfulness of God,
rather than repentance: not but that mercies are com-
petent and apt instruments of grace, if we would ;
but because we are more dispersed in our spirits, and
by a prosperous accident are melted into joy and
garishness, and drawn off from the sobriety of recol-
lection. J eshurun waxed fat and kicked. Many are
not able to sutfer and endure prosperity ; it is like
the light of the sun to a weak eye ; glorious indeed
in itself, but not proportioned to such an instrument.
Adam himself (as the Rabbins say) did not dwell one
night in paradise, but was poisoned with prosperity,

* Resembling mortals nor in shape nor mind. A.

Serm. XL divine judgments. 237

with the beauty of his fair Avife and beauteous tree ;
And JVoah and Loi were boll) righteous and exem-
plary, the one to Sodom, the other to the old world,
so loui^ as they lived in a place in which they were
obnoxious to the common sutTering; but as soon as
the one of them had escaped trom drowning, and the
other from burning, and were put into secuiit), they
fell into crimes vvliich have dishonoined theii memo-
ries for above thirty generations together, the crimes
of drunkenness and incest. Wealth and a full for-
tune make men licentiously vicious, tempting a man
with power to act all that he can desire or design
viciously.

Inde irae faciles

Nanique ut opes niinias niiindo fortuna subacto
Intiilit, et rebus mores cessere seoundis,

C'liltiis gestare decoros

Vix nuribus rapuere mares ; totoqiie accersitiir orbe
Quo gens quaeque perit *

And let me observe to you, that though there are
in the New Testament many promises and provisions
made for the poor m that very capacity, they having
a title to some certain circumstances and additionals
of grace and blessing; yet to rich men our blessed
Saviour was pleased to make none at all, but to leave
them involved in general comprehensions, and to have
a title to the special promises only, by becomingy/oor
in spirit, and in preparation of mind, though not in
fortune and possession. However, it is hard for God

* Lucaii Lib. 1. v. 173.

Fortune has undermin'd the publiok health

And mined morals by the power of weaUh.

The female robe usurps the manly gown

And swift destruction threats the imperial town. A,

338 THE MERcy OF THE Scmi. XIJ.

to persuade us to this, till we are taught it by a sad
experience, that those prosperities which we think
will make us serve Grod cheerfnllj, make us to
serve the world and secular ends diligently, and God
not at all.

Repentance is a duty that best complies with
affliction ; it is a symbolical estate, of the same com-
plexion and constitution; half the work of repentance
is done by a sad accident, our spirits are made sad,
our gayeties mortified, our wildness corrected, the
watersprings are ready to run over: but if God
should grant our desires, and give ta most men pros-
perity, with a design to lead them to repentance, all
his pomp and all his employment, and all his atfec-
tions and passions, and all his circumstances are so
many degrees of distance from the conditions and
nature of repentance. It was reported by /)?o con-
cerning JVero's mother, that she often wished that
her son might be emperour, and wished it with so
great passion, that upon that condition 9»le cared
not though her son might kill her. Her first wish
and her second fear were both granted: But when
she began to fear that her son did really design to
murder her, she used all the art and instruments of
diversion that a witty and a powerful, a tnnorous
person and a woman, could invent or apply. Just so
it is with us : so we might have our wishes of pios-
perity, we promise to undergo all the severities of
repentance ; but when we are landed upon our de-
sire, then every degree of satisfaction of those sen-
sualities is a temptation against repentance; for a
man must have liis affections weaned from those
possessions, before he can be reconciled to the pos-
sibilities of repentance.

And because God knows this well, and loves us
better than we do ourselves, therefore he sends
upon us the scrolls of vengeance, the hand-ivniing

Serm. XIL divine judgments. * 239

upon the wcilU to denounce judgment ao^alnst us:
For God is so highly resolved to hriug us to repent-
ance sonic way or other, that ii by his goodness he
cannot shame us into it ; he will tiy if by his jui/g-
ments he can scare us into it : not that he strikes
always as soon as he liath sent his warrants out;

cuS'i TCitt a.fjiitp'ruvova'iY tufiy* wn^iKftv o ©soj" awa. i'iiaurt ^^^ovov «t (Wei^vc/av x«<

Tw Tou <!<f>8iwi^a75f WO-/V, said Fhilo. Thus God sent Jonas
and denounced judgments against JS'ineich ; but
Avith the <*iv> with the forbearance of ioriy days for
the time of their escape, if they would repe?»t.
When JYoah, the great preacher of righteousness^ de-
nounced the flood to all the world, it was with the
'j^rxx- with tlie forbearance of a hundred and twenty
years. And wlien the great extermination of the
Jewish nation, and their total deletion from being
God's people, was foretold by Christ, and decreed
by God: yet they had the 'aw;^''' of forty years, in
which they were perpetually called to repentance.
These were reprieves and deferrings of the stroke.

But sometimes God stiikes once, and then for-
bears. And such are all those sadnesses which are
less than death : every sickness, every loss, every
disgrace, the death of friends and nearest relatives,
sudden discontents; these are all of them the louder
calls of God to repentance ; but still, instances of
forbearance.

Indeed many times this forbearance makes men
impudent. It was so in the case oi Pharaoh ; when
God smote him, and tlien forbore, Pharaoh's heart
grew callous and insensible, till God struck again :
and this was the meaning of these woids of God, /
ivill harden the heart of Pliaraoh, that is, I will for-
bear him: smite him, and then take the blow off:
Sic enim Dens indiiravit Pharaonis cor^ said St. Basil.
For as water takrn oif Croui five will sooner cono'eal
and become icy, than if it had not been attenuated

240 THE MEKCV OF THE Scrm. Xlt.

by the heat : so Is the heart of some men ; when
smitten by God, it seems soft and pliable, but taken
otf from the tire of alfliction, it presently becomes
horrid, tiien stiff, and then hard as a rock of ada-
mant, or as the gates of death and hell. But this is
besides the purpose and intention of the divine mer-
cy ; this is an *vT/;r£/)/<rTaa-/f, a plain contradiction to the
riches of God's goodness ; this is to be evil because
God is good; to burn with flames, because we are
cooled with water ; this is to put out the lamps of
heaven, or (if we cannot do it) to put our own eyes
out, lest we should behold the fair beauty of the Lord,
and be enamoured of his goodness, and repent and
live. O take heed of despising this goodness ; for
this is one of God's latest arts to save us; he hath
no way left beyond this, but to punish us with a
lastino* judgment and a poignant affliction. In the
tomb of T^rentia certain lamps burned under ground
many ages together ; but as soon as ever they were
brought into the air, and saw a bigger light, they
went out, never to be re-enkindled. So long as we
are in the retirements of sorrow, of want, of fear, of
sickness, or of any sad accident, we are burning and
shining lamps ; but when God comes with his 'avo;^'*
with nis forbearance, and lifts us up from the gates of
death, and carries us abroad into the open air, that
we converse with prosperity and temptation, we go
out in darkness ; and we cannot be preserved in heat
and light, but by still dwelling in the regions of
sorrow. And if such be our weaknesses or our fol-
ly, it concerns us to pray against such deliverances^
to be afraid of health, to beg of God to continue
a persecution, and not to deny us the mercy of an
affliction.

And do not we find all this to be a great truth in
ourselves? Are we so great strangers to our own
weaknesses and unwortliiness, as not to remember

Serm. XII. divine judgments. 241

when God scared us with judgments In the neigh-
bourhood, where we hved in a great plague, or if
we were ever in a storm, or God had sent a sickness
upon us ? Then we may please to remember that
repentance was our business, that we designed moun-
tains of piety, renewed our holy purposes, made
vows and solemn sacraments to God to become pe-
nitent and obedient persons ; and Ave may also re-
member, without much considering, that as soon as
God bej-an to foihear us. we would no lonofcr for-
bear to sin, but add flame to name, a heap of sins to a
treasure of wrath already too big; being like Pha-
raoh or Hcrod^orWke the ox and mule, more hardy and
callous for our stripes; and melted in the fire, and
frozen liaider in the cold ; worse for all our afflictions,
and the worse for all God's judgments ; not bettered
by his goodness, nor mollified by his threatenings: and
what is there moie left for God to do unto us? He
that is not won by the sense of God's mercy, can
never find any thing in God that shall convert him;
and he whom fear and sense of pain cannot mend,
can never find any alignment from hintself that shall
make him wise. This is sad, that nothing from tvith-
out and noihing from within shall move us : nothing
in heaven, and nothing in hell; neither love, nor
fear; gratitude to God, nor preservation of ourselves,
shall make us to repent. eavS'i TKnyn:' cv^ c^'-^-rx^u .%t5>-, that
shall be his final sentence ; He shall never escape thai
ruin from which the greatest art of God coidd not in-
iicc^ nor his terrour scare him : He loved ctirsing^ there-
fore shall it happen to him. ; he loved not blessings there-
fore shall it be far from him.

Let therefore every one of us take the account of
our lives, and read over the sermons that God hatli
made us : besides that sweet language of his mercy,
and his still voice from heaven, consider what voices'
of thunder you heard, and presently that noise ceased,

VOL. If. 32

THE ?.IERCY OP THE iS'frW. XII.

and God was heard .in the still voice again. What
dangers have any oi you escaped? Were you ever
assaulted by the rudenesd oi" an ili-naturcd nian ?
Have you never had a dangerous fail, and escaped
it? Did none of you ever e.scaj;e di owning, and in
a great danger saw the forbearance of God ? Have
you never been sick (as you ieared) unto death?
Or, suppose none of these things iiavc happened,
hath not God threatened you ail, aiid forboin to
smite you ? or smitten you, and fori^or ri to kill
you ? That is evident. But it you had been a pri-
vado, and of the cabinet-council v»Mth your atigel-
guardian, that from him you mi;:^ht iiave known how
many dangers you have escajied, how often yon have
been near a ruin, so near, tiiat if you iiad seen yoiir
danger with a sober spirit, the Icar of it would
have half killed you ; if he had but told you how
often God had sent out liis warrants to the exter-
minating angel, anJ olH' blessed Saviour by his inter-
cession hath obtained a re{»rieve, tiiat he nii^ht have
the content of rejoicing at thy conversion and re-
pentance ; if you had known from him the secrets of
that providence which governs us in secret, and how
many thousand times the devil would have done thee
hurt, and how often himselt, as a ministering spirit
of God's o-oor/y/e.w and forbearance^ did interpose and
abate, or divert a mischief which was falling on thy
head : it must needs cover thy head with a cloud
ofsliame and blusliing at that ingratitude and that
folly, that neither will give God thanks, nor secure
thy own well-being.

Hadst thou never any dangerous fall in thy intem-
perance ? Then God shewed thee thy danger, and
that he was angry at thy sin ; but yet did so pity
thy person, that he would forbear thee a little longer,
else that fall had been into thy grave. When thy
gluttony gave thee a surfeit, and God gave thee a

Serin. XI f. divine jitdgments. 243

remedy, his moariiii<^ then was, that thy ghittony
rad'ier should be cured than ihy surfeit; tlial lepent-
anre should have been tliy lenudy, and abstinence
and lastinii; should be thy cure. Did ever thy proud
or reveria;<!ful spiiit enga^^e thee upon a duel, or a
vexatious lawsuit, and God brought thee off with
life or peace? His purpose then was, that his nriercv
sho:jId teach thee chaiity. And he that cannot read
the purposes of God written with the Jiuirer ofjudj;^-
mont, (Tor as yet his whole hand is not laid on) eill-ier
is consigned to eternal ruin, because God will no
more e;i leavour hi, cure : or if his mercy still con-
tinues and ifoes on in loni^-suffering, it shall be by
sucJi vexatious instruments, such caustlcks, and corro-
sives, su h tormentini^ and desperate medicaments,
such w!iich in the very cure will souiidiy punish thy
follv and in„:;ratitude. For deceive not youiselves,
Gotl's mercy cannot be made a patron for any man's
impiety : the purpose of it is to bring us to repent-
ance: and God will do it by the mercies of his mer-
cies, or by mercies of his judgmeiits ; he will either
break our hearts into a thousand fragments of contri-
tion, or break om- bones in the ruins of the grave and
hell. And since God rejoices in his mercy above all
his works, he will be most impatient that we shall
despise tiiat in which he most delights, and in w liicli
"we have the greatest reason to delight ; the riches
of that goodness which is essential, and part of his
glory, and is communicated to us, to bring us to re-
pentance, that we may partake of that goodness, and
behold that glori/.

244 THE MERcr OF THE Semi. XIIL

SERMON XIIL

PART II.

3. MaxpoBufxtd., lono^-svffering. In tliis one word are
contained all the treasures of the divine goodness :
Here is the length and extension of his mercy :
Pertrahit spiritum super nos Dominvs^ so the Syrian
interpreter reads Luke xviii. 7. God holds his breath :
He retains his anger within him, lest it should come
forth and blast us. And here is also much of the di-
vine justice : For although God sutlers long yet he
does not let us alone ; he forbears to destroy us, but
not to punish us: and in both, he by many accidents
gives probation of his power ; according to the
prayer of the wise man, «W2/; J'i jr*vT« ot< Traiia. Sw-ltm- x, T^^io/ia;
afA-jL^in/A^i. av9g*Ta)v u<: /uilAvoictv, Thou art mcrciful towards us
alU because thou canst do all things ; and thou passest bif
the siiis of men, that they may repent* And that God
shall support our spirit, and preserve our patience,
and nourish our hope, and correct our stubbornness,
and mortify our pride, and bring us to him whether
"we will or no, by such gracious violences and merci-
ful judgments which he uses towards us as his last
remedies, is not only the demonstration of a mighty
mercy, but of an Almighty power. So hard a thing
it is to make us leave our follies and become wise,
that, were not the mercies of God an eH'ective pity,
and clothed in all the way of its progress with mighti-
ness and power, every sinner should perish irrevo-
cably. But this is the fiery trial the last purgatory
fire which God uses to burn the thistles, and purify

Wisd. xi. 2i.

Serm. XIII. divine judgments. 245

the dross. When the gentle influence of a sun-beam
"Nvil] not wither them, nor the vveeding-hook of a
short affliction cut them out ; then God conies with
fire to burn us, with the axe laid to the root of the tree.
But then observe, that when we are under this state
of cure, we are so near destruction, that the same
instrument that God uses for remedy to us, is also
prepared to destroy us; thefireis as apt to buin us to
aslies, as to cleanse us when we are so overo-rown ;
and the axe is instrumental to cut us down for fuel,
as to square us for building in God's temple: and
therefore when it comes thus far, it will be hard dis-
cerning what the purpose of the axe is, and, whether
the fire means to burn, we shall know it by the
change wrought upon ourselves. For what Plato
said concerning hii- dream of purgatory is true here:
Quicunque non purgutus migrat ad inferos^ jaccbit in
Into ; quicunqv.e ^^ero mitratus illuc accesserit^ habitubit
cum Deis. He that dies in his inrpurity. shall lie in it
for ever ; but he that descends to his grave pinged and
mitred^ that is, having quitted his viees, et sitpcrinduens
justitiam. being clothed with lightcousness, shall dicell in
Ifghtand inmiortality. It is said that we put God to
such extremities : And as it happens in long diseases,
those which physicians use for the last remedies,
seldom prevail ; and when consumptive persons come
to have their heads shaven, they do not often escape :
so it is when we put God to his last remedies God
indeed hath the glory of his patience and his long-
sufi'ering, but we seldom have the benefit and the use
of it. For if when our sin was young, and our
strength more active, and our habits less, and virtue
not so much a stranger to us, we sutlered sin to pre-
vail upon us, to grow stronger than the ruins of our
spirit, and to lessen us into the state of sickness and
disability, in the midst of all those remedies which
God used to our beginning diseases: much more

246 THE MERcr OF THE Scvm. XIIL

desnnrate is our recovery, when our disease is
stron^^er, and our faculties weaker; when oui- sins
reign in us, and our tlioughts of virtue are not alive.
Houever, although I say this, and it is highly con-
sidciable to ihe purpose that we never sutfet things
to come to this extremity, yet if it be upon us, we
must do as well as we can : But then we are to
look up.n it as a design ofGod's last mercy, beyond
whicii if we protract our repentance, our condition is
desperately uiiserable. '.ihe whole state, f which
mor-y we unJerstand by the parable of the king
reckoning with his servants tijat were in arrears to
him : One ivas broKcht. to him which owed him ten thou-
sand talents : but forasmuch as he had not to pay ^ his
lord com.manded htm to be sold^ and his wife and chil-
dren^ and all ihat he had, and payment to be made. The
man you see was under the arrest; the sentence was
passed upon him, he was a condemned man : but,
before the execution of it, he fell down and worship-
ped, and said, Kupn fjL'XK^o^u/u:,c-av; Lord., suffer me longer
w chile ; have patience with me and I ivill pay thee all.
Tius tells its meaning: this is, a long-sffcrcmce^ by
being aybr6ear«?ife only of execution ot the last sen-
tence, a putting otf damnation upon a ionger trial of
our emendation ; but in the mean time it implies no
other case, but that together with his long-sutFerance
God may use all other severities and scourges to
break our untamed spirits, and to soften them with
hammers; so death be put off, no matter else what
hardships and loads of sufferance we have. Htc
ure^ hie seca, nt in aeternum parcas : So St. jJustin
piayed : Here. O Lord., cvt me. here burn me ; spare me
not nmc, that thou mayest spare me for ever. ^And it is
just like the mercy used to a madman, when he is kept
in a dark room and tamed with whips; it is a cruel
mercy, but such as his condition requires ; he can
receive no other mercy, all things else were cruelly
unmerciful.

Serin. XIII. divine judgments. 2A7

I rcmenroer wiiat i>/o/2obsf;i'vcd wittily ofthe pun-
ishment inliicted upon tho dLiu^^liteis ot^ Da..ous^
whom tlie old pof ts feigned to be condemiicd in hell
to Idl a bottomless tub with water, and, to incjcase
the pain, (as they lancied) this water they were to
caiiy in sieves, and never to leave work till the tub
were full ; it is well, (says he) since their labour
must be eternal, that it is so gentle; lor it were more
pains to carry their water in whole vessels, aiid a
sad burthen to po loaden to a leakv tub with un-
fruitful labours. Just so is the condition of those
persons upon whom a wratli is gone out: It is a sad
sentence, but acted with a gentle instrument; and
since they are condemned to pay the scores of their
sins with the sulferance of a load of judgments, it is
well they are such as will run quite through them,
and not stick upon them to eternity. (Jmnes einm
paenae non exterminantcs^ simt medicinoles ; all punish-
ments whatsoever which do not destroy us, are in-
tended to save us; they are lancets which make a
wound, but to let forth the venom of our ulcers.
When God slew twenty-three thousand of the ^ssy-
rians for their foinication, tijat was a final justice
upon their persons, and consigned them to a sad
eternity ; for beyond such an infliction there was no
remedy. But when God sent lions to the Assyrian
inhabitants of Samana, and the judgment drove them
to inquire after the manner of the God ofthe fowc/, and
they sent for priests from Jerttsckm to teach them
how to worship the God of Is>ael: that was a mercy
and a judgment too : the long forbearance of God., who
destroyed not all the inhabitants, led the rest wito re*
pcntance.

1. And I must make this observation to you ; that
when things come to this pass, that God is forced to
the last remedies of judgments, this long suflerance
will little or nothing concern particular persons, but

24o THE MERCY OF THE ^^rm. XIIF.

nations and communities of men : for those who are
smitten with jud;^ment, if God takes his hands off
a«T^ain. and so opens a way for their repentance by
prolonging their time ; that comes under the second
part of God's method, the rwo-x^t,, or forbearance : but
if he smites a single persoii with a linal judgment, that
is a long sufferings not of him, but towards others ; and
God hath destroyed my neighbour to make me repent,
my neighbjur's time being expired, and the date of
his possibihty determined. For a man's death bed is
but an ill station for a penitent; and a final judgment
is no good monitor to him, to whom it is a severe
executioner. They that perished in the gainsaying of
Corah were out of the conditions of repentance. But
the people that were affrighted with the neighbour-
hood of the judgment, and the expresses of God's
an^T^er manifested in such visible remonstrances, they
were the men called unto repentance. But concern-
ing: the whole nations or communities of men this
long sufferance is a sermon of repentance ; loud, cla-
morous, and highly argumentative. When God suf-
fered the mutinies, the atfronts, the baseness and
ingratitude, the follies and relapses of the children of
Israel^ who murmured against God ten times in the
wilderness; God sent evil angels among them, and
fiery serpents, and pestilence, and fire from heaven,
and prodigies from the earth, and a prevailing sword
of the enemies : and in all these accidents, although
some innocent persons felt the contingencies and va-
riety of mortality, yet those wicked persons who fell
by the design of God's anger were made examples
unto others, and instances of God's ibrbearance to
the nation : and yet this forbearance was such, that
although God preserved the nation in being, and in
title to the first promises, yet all the particular per-
sons that came from Egypt died in the wilderness,
two only excepted.

Serm. XTII. divixe judgments. 249

2. And I desire you to observe this, that you may
truly estiaiate the arts of" the divine justice and mer-
cy. For all the world beino- one continual and en-
tire ari^umcnt of the divine mercy, we are apt. to
abuse that mercy to vain conhdences and presump-
tion ; first mistaking the end, as if God's mercy
would be indulgent to cur sin, to which it is the
greatest enemy in the world : for it is a certain truth,
that the mercy of God is as great an enemy to sin as
his justice Is; and as God's justice is made the hand-
maid of his mercy to cure sin, so it is the servant also
and the Insti'ument to avenge our despite and con-
tempt of mercy; and in all the way, where a ditler-
ence can be, tliere jsi-^tice is the less principal. And
it were a <^reat si<>:n of folly and a hup-e mistake, to
think our lord and our friends do us offices of kind-
ness, to make iheniseivcs.more capable of afironts ;
and that our fuher's care over us and y>rovi.sions for
us can tempt us to disobey them: the very puipose
of all those emanations is, that their love may return
in duty, and their providence be the parent of our
prudence, and their care be crowned with our piety;
and then we shall all be crowned, and shall return
like the year, that ends into its own circle; and the
fathers and the children, the benefactors and the
beneficiary shall knit the wreath, and bind each
other in the eternal inclosures and cirrlings of im-
mortality. But besides, as the men who presume to
sin because of God's mercy, do mistake the very end
and desi:;-n of God's mercy, so they also mistake the
economy of it, and the manner of its ministration.

3. For if God suffers men to go on in sins, and
punishes them not, it is not a mercy, it is not a for-
bearance; it is a hardening them, a consigning them
to ruin and reprobation ; and themselves give the best
argument to prove it ; for they continue in their sin,
they multiply their iniquity, and every day grow more

VOL. II. 33

250 THE MERCT OP THE Semi. XIII,

an enemy to God ; and that is no mercy that Increases
their hostility and enmity with God. A prosperous
iniquity is the most unprosperous, condition in the
whole world. When he slew them,, they sought him.,
and turned them early,, and inquired after God : but as
long as they prevailed upon their enemies,, they forgot
that God was their strength, and the high God was
their redeemer. It was well observed by the Persian.
ambassador of old ; when he was telling the king a sad
story of the overthrow of all his army ny the Atheni-
ans,, he adds this of his own ; that the day before the
figiit, the young Persian gallants, being confident thej
should destroy their enemies, were drinking drunk,
and railing at the timorousness and fears of religion,
and against all their Gods, saying, there were no such
things, and that all things came by chance and indus-
try, nothing by the providence of the supreme power.
But the next day, when they had fought unprosper-
ously, and flying from their enemies, who were eager
in their pursuit, they came to the river Strymon,
■which was so frozen that their boats could not launch,
and yet it began to thaw, so that they feared the ice
would not bear them; then you should see the bold
gallants, that the day before said there was no God,
most timorously and superstitiousiy fail upon their
faces, and beg of God, that the river Strymon might
bear them over from their enemies. What wisdom,
and philosophy, and perpetual experience, and reve-
lation, and promises, and blessings cannot do, a
mighty fear can ; it can allay the confidences of bold
lust and imperious sin, and soften our spirit into the
lowness of a child, our revenge into the charity of
prayers, our impudence into the blessings of a chid-
den <rirl; and tiierefore God hath taken a course pro-
portionable : for he is not so unmercifully merciful,
as to ^•ive milk to an infirm lust, and hatch the egg to
the bigness of a cockatrice. And therefore observe

Serm. XIIL divine judgments. 251

how it is that Goers mercy prevails over all his works:
it is even then wiicn nothiuu "an be discerned but his
jud,jments : For as when a famine had been in hracl
in the days oi Jiliab for three years and a half, when
the angTy prophet Elijah met the king, and presently
a i^rcat wind arose, and the dust blew into the eyes of
them that walked abroad, and the face of the heavens
was black and all tempest, yet then the prophet was
the most gentle, and God began to forgive, and the
heavens were more beautiful tiiaii Avhen the sun puts
on the brightest ornaments of a bridegroom, going
from his chambers of the east: so it is in the economy
of the divine mercy ; when God makes our faces black,
and the winds blow so loud till the cordage cracks,
and our gay fortunes split, and our houses are dressed
with cypress and yew, and the mourners go about the
streets, this is nothing but the pompa misericordiae,
this IS the funeral of our sins, dressed indeed with
emblems of mourning, and proclaimed with sad ac-
cents of death; but the sight is refreshing, as the
beauties of the field ivhich God had blessed, and the
sounds are healthful, as the noise of a physician.

This is that riddle spoken of in the Psalm, Calix in
manit domini irini meri pleniis misto ; the pure impure,
the mingled xmmingled cup :* for it is a cup in which
God hath poured much of his severity and anger, and
yet it is pure and unmingled ; for it is all mercy.
And so the riddle is resolved, and our cup is full and
made more wholesome ; Lymphatum crescit, dulcescity
laedere ncscit : it is some justice, and yet it is all mer-
cy ; the very justice of God being an actof ruercy; a
forbearance of the man or the nation, and the pun-
ishing the sin. Thus it was the case of the children
of Israel ; when they ran after the bleating of the
idolatrous calves, Moses prayed passionately, and God

* Psalm. Ixxv. 8.

252 THE MERCY OP THE Serm. XIIL

heard his prayer, and forgave their sin unto them.
And this was David's observation of tlie manner of
God's meicy to them : Thou wad a God and forgav-
est ihem, though thou tookest vengeance of their inven-
tions* For God's mercy is given to us by parts, and
to certain purposes. Sometimes God only so forgi\es
us, th it he docs not cut us off in tlie sin, but yet lays
on a heavy load pf judgments : so he did to his peo-
ple, when he sent them to school under the discipline
of seventy years' captivity. Sometimes he makes a
iud^^cnient less, and forjrives in respect of the decree
of the muiction, he strikes more gently ; and whereas
God had designed, it may be, the death of thyself
or thy nearest iclative. he is content to take the life of
a child. And so he did to David, when he forbore
him ; The Lord hath taken away thy sin^ thou siialt
not die ; nevertheless the child that is born unto thee,
that shall die.'f Sometimes he puts the evil otf to a
farther day ; as he did in tSie case ofjJhaO and Hcze-
kiah : to the first he brought the evd uporj his house,
and to the second he brought the evil upon his king-
dom in his son's days, God forgiving only so as to
respite tiie evil, that they should have peace in their
own days. And thus when we have committed a sin
against God, which hath highly provoked him to an-
ger, even upon our repentance we are not sure to be
forgiven, so as we understand forgiveness ; that is, to
hear no more of it, never to be called to an account :
hut we are happy if God so forgive us, as not to throw
us into the insutferable flames of hell, though he smite
us till we groan for our misery, till we chatter like a
swallow, (as David's expression is.) And though
David was an excellent penitent ; yet after he had
lost the child begotten of Bathsheba, and God had
told him he had forgiven him, yet he raised up his

-* I'salra. xcix. 8, f 2 Sara. 12, 13, 14.

Serm. XIIL divtve JUDGMEfrxs. 2,';3

darling son agnlnst him, and forced him to an Inglori-
ous lliii'ht. and Ins son lav vvidi his father's concubines
in the face of all Israel. So that when we are forgiv-
en, yet it is ten to one but God will make us to smart
a?ifl roar for our sins^ for the very disquietness of our
souls.

For if we sin and ask God forgiveness, and then are
quiet, we fticl so little inconvenience in tlie trade, tliat
we may more easily be tempted to make a trade of
it indeed. I wish to God tiiat for every sin we have
committed, we could heartily cry God mercy, and
leave it, and judge ourselves for it, to prevent (lod's
anger: but when we have done all tliat we common-
ly call repeiitance, and when possibly God hatli for-
given us to some purposes, yet it may be he punishes
our sin when we least think of it ; that sin which we
have long since forgotten, it may be (or the lust of
thy vouth thou hast a healthless old age, An old
rehgious person long ago complained it was his case.

Quos niniis effraenes habui, nunc vapulo renes:
Sic iiiitur jiivcnis cnlpa doloro senis.*

It may be thy sore eyes are the punishment of in-
temperance seven years ago ; or God cuts thy days
shorter, and thou shalt die in a florid age ; or he raises
up afllictions to thee in thine own house, in thine own
bowels; or hath sent a gangrene into thy estate; or
■with any arrow out of his quiver he can wound thee,
and the arrow shall stick fast in thy flesh, although
God hath forgiven thy sin to many purposes. Our
blessed S^Lvlour was heard in all that he prayed (^sald
the apostle :) and he praved for the Jens that cruci-
fied him, Father, forgive them., for they know not what
they do : and God did forgive that great sin, but how

* I pay severely, as the Gods ordain,
A youtk of folly with an age of pain. A,

254 THE MERCY OP THE Serm. XIIL

far? Whereas it was just in God to deprive them of
all possibilit^y of receiving benefit from the death of
Christ, yet God admitted them to it; he gave them
time, and possibilities, and helps, and great advan-
tages to bring them to repentance ; he did not pre-
sently shut them up in his final and eternal anger ;
and yet he had finally resolved to destroy their city
and nation, and did so, but forbore them forty years,
and gave them all the helps of miracles and sermons
apostolical to shame them, and force them into sor-
row for their fault. And before any man can repent,
God hath foro-iven the man in one deofree of foraive-
ness ; for he hath given him tfie grace of repentance,
and taken from him that final anger of the spirit of
reprobation ; and when a man hath repented, no man
can say that God hath forgiven him fo all purposes,
but hath reserves of anger to punish the sin, to make
the man afraid to sin any more ; and to represent,
that when any man hath sinned, whatever he does
afterwaids, he siiall be miserable as long as he lives,
vexed with its adherences, and its neighbourhood and
evil consequence. For as no man that hath sumed
can during his life ever return to an integral and per-
fect innocence : so neither shall he be restored to a
perfect peace, but must always Avatch and strive
against his sin, and ahvays mourn and pray for its
pardon, and always find cause to hate it, by know-
ing himself to be forever in danger of enduring some
grievous calamity, even for those sins for which he
hath truly repented him, for which God hath in
many gracious degrees passed his pardon. This is
the manner of dispensation of the divine mercy, in
respect of particular persons and nations too.

But sometimes we find a severer judgment hap-
pening upon a people; and yet in that sad story
God"s mercy sings t!ie triumph, which although it
be much to God's glory, yet it is a sad story to sin-

Serm. Xllf. divine judgments. 255

nirig people. Six hundred tliousand fighting men,
hesidcs women and cliildren and decrepid persons,
came out o{ Egypt ; and God destroyed tliem a!l in
the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua : and there
it was that God's mcrn/ j/revailcd over his justice^ that
he did not destroy the nation, hut stiil preserved a
succession to Jacobs to possess the promise. God
droivned cdl the world except eight persons ; his mercy
there a\so prevailed over his justice^ that he preserved
a renmant to mankind; his justice devoured all the
world, and his mercy, which preserved but eight,
had the honour of the prevailing attribute. God
destroyed Sodom and the Jive cities of the plain^ and
rescued but four from the tlames of that sad burning,
and of the four lost one in the flight ; and yet his
7acrcy prevailed over his justice^ because he did not de-
stroy all.

And in these senses we are to understand the ex-
cellence of the divine mercy : even when he smites,
"when he rebukes us for sin, when he makes our beauty
to fail, and our Jlesh to consume aivay like a moth fret-
ting a garment, yet then his mercy is the prevailing
ingredient. If his judgments be but tines set upon
our heads, according to the mercy of our old laws,
salvo contencmento, so as to preserve our estates, to
continue our hopes and possibilities of heaven ; all
the other judgments can be nothing but mercies,
excellent instruments of grace, arts to make us sober
and wise, to take us off from our vanity, to restrain our
wildnesscs, which if they were left unbridled would
set all the world on fire. God's judgments are like
the censures of the church, in w hich a sinner is deliv-
ered over to satan to be buffetted ; that the spirit may be
saved. The result of all this is, that God's mercies
are not, ought not, cannot be instruments of confidence
to sin, because the very purpose of his mercy is to the
contrary, and the very manner of his economy and

256 THE MERcr OF THE Scrm. XIII.

dispensation is such, that God's mercy goes along in
coinplexioM and conjunction with his judgments : the
riches of his forhearance is this, that he forbears to
thiovv us into heii, and sends tiie mercies of tiis rod
to chide us unto repentance, and the mercies of his
rod to punish us for having sinned, and that when
we have sinned we may never think ourselves secur-
ed, nor ever be reconciled to such dangers and
deadly poisons. This, tiiis is the manner of the di-
vine mercy. Go now, fond man, and, because God
is merciful, presume to sin, as having grounds to hope
that thou mayest sin, and be safe all the way ! If this
hope (shall 1 call it) or sordid flattery, could be rea-
sonable, then the mercies of God would not lead us
to repentance; so unworthy are we in the sense and
largeness of a wide fortune and pleasant accident.
For impunity was never a good argument to make
men to obey laws. Quotusquisque rcperitur^ qni im-
punitate proposita abstinere possit hvjuriis? Impunitas
est maxima peccandiillecebra, said Cicero* And there-
fore the wisdom of God hath so ordered the actions
of the world, that the most fruitful showers shall be
wrapped up in a cover of black clouds ; that health
shall be conveyed by bitter and ill-tasted drugs ;
that the temples of our bodies shall be purged by
whips, and that the cords of the whip shall be the
cords of love, to draw us from the intaiiglings of vani-
ty and folly. This is the long suffering of God, the
last remedy to our deceased souls: and, ava/cr.^;,75<: oittk
■.TsA\* 'mxba-i ou a-a'^pfcn^irdii. Said Phaluris ; unless w'e be
senseless, we shall be brought to sober couises by all
those sad accidents, and wholesome, but ill tasted
mercies, which we feel in all the course and succes-
sion of the divine long sufferance.

The use of all the premises is that which St. Paid
expresses \a t'le text, tliat we do not despise all this :
and he only despises not, who serves the ends of God

* Offic. 3.

Serin. XIII. DiyiNE judgments. 257

in all these deslo-ns of meicj, that Is, he that repents
him ofliis sins. But tiieie are a ijreat many ilcspisers ;
all they tliat live in their siiis, they that have more
blessings than they can reckon hours in their lives,
that are courted by the divine favour and wooed to
salvation, as if mankind were to give, not to receive,
so great a blessing, all they that answer not to so
friendly summons, they arc despisers of God's mer-
cies: and although God overflows with mercies, and
does not often leave us to the only hopes of being
cured by unctions and gentle cataplasms, but pro-
ceeds farther, and gives us slibium or prepared steel,
sharp arrows of his anger, and the sword, and the
hand of sickness ; yet we are not sure of so much
favour as to be entertained longer in God's hospital,
but may be thrust iorth among the incurabili. Plu-
tarch reports concerning swine, that their optick
nerves are so disposed to turn their eyes downward,
that they cannot look upwards, nor behold the face
of heaven, unless they be thrown upon their backs.
Such swine are we: we seldom can look up to hea-
ven, till God by his judgments throws us upon our
backs ; till he humbles us and softens us with show-
ers of our own blood, and tears of sorrow : and yet
God hath not promised that he will do so much for
us; but for aught we know, as soon as ever the devil
enters into our swinish and brutish hearts, we shall
run down the hill, and perish in the floods and seas
of intolerable misery. And therefore, besides that
it is a huge folly in us that we will not be cured with
pleasant medicines, but must be longing for colo-
quintlda and for vomits, for knives and poniards in-
stead of the gentle showers of tlie divine refreshments,
besides that this is an imprudence and sottishness ;
we do infinitely put It to the venture whether we
shall be in a saveable condition oi' no, after the re-
jection of the fnst state of mercies. But however,
VOL. II. 34

258 THE MERCT OF THE Scmi. XllL

then be^vins the first ftcp of the judjyment and pun-
gent misery, we are pei isliing* people, or, if" not, yet
attiie least not to be cured without the abscission of
a member, without the cuttin*^ off' a hand or leg, or
the puttin^i; out of an eje: we must be cut, to lake
the stone out of our hearts, and that is a state of a
very j^reat infelicity; and if we escape the stone, we
cannot escape the surgeon's kriite; if we escape
death, yet we have a sickness ; and though that be
a great mercy in respect of death, yet it is as great
a misery in respect of health. And that is the first
punishment for the despite done to the first and most
sensible mercies ; we are fallen into a sickness that
cannot be cured but by disease and hardship.

But if this despite runs farther, and when the mer-
cies look on us with an angry countenance, and that
God gives us only the mercy of a pimishment, if we
despise this too, we increase but our misery as we
increase our sin. The sum of which is this; that if
Pharaoh will not be cured by one plague he shall
have ten ; and if ten will not do it, the great and XeuXh.
wave, which is far bigger than all the rest, the seve-
rest and the last arrow of the quiver, then we shall
perish in the red sea, the sea of flames and blood, in
which the ungodly shall roll eternally.

But some of these despisers are such as are un-
moved when God smites others ; like Gallio, when
the Jews took Sosthmes and beat him in the pleading
place, he cared for none of these things ; he w^as not
concerned in that interest : and many Gallios there
are among us, that understand it not to be a part of
the divine method of God's long sufferance^ to strike
others to make us afraid. But however we sleep in
the midst of such alarms, yet know, that there is not
one death in all the neighbourhood but is intended
to thee ; every crowing of the cock is to awake theo
to repentance : and if thou sleepest still, the next

Serm. XIIL divine judgments. 259

turn mav be thine ; God will send his angel, as he
did to Peter^ and smite tliee on thy side, and awake
the-.' fron thy dead sleep of sin and sotlishness. But
beyond this some are despisers still, and hope to
drown the noises of mount Sinai, the sound of can-
noiis, of thunders and liiihtnin^s, with a counter noise
of levelling; and clamorous roaiiui-.s, with mcity
meetings ; like the sacrilices to JMoloclu they sound
drums and trumpets, tliat they might not hear the
sad shriekings of their children as they were dying
in the cavity of the brazen idol : and when their con-
science shrieks out or nuirmurs, in a sad melancholy,
or sotnething that is dear to them is smitten, they
attempt to drown it in a sea of drink, in the heathen-
ish noises of idle and drunken company; and that
which God sends to lead them to repentance, leads
them to a tavern, not to refresh their needs of na-
ture, or for ends of a tolerable civility, or innocent
purposes, but, like the condemned persons among the
Levantines^ they tasted wine freely, that they might
die and be insensible. 1 could easily reprove such
persons with an old Greek proverb mentioned by

Phltavch, ri6/!< th Eu^uui^?, Ovn mS'^y^t^ a.7ra.KKt^1ii H.t.x>aoi; : 1 OU

shall illbe cured of the knotted ^o?</ if you have noth-
ing else but a ivide shoe. But this reproof is too
gentle for so great a madness: it is not only an in-
competent cure, to apply the plaster of a sin or vanity
to cure the smart of a divine judgment; but it is a
great increaser of the misery, by swelling the cause
to bigger and monstrous proportions. It is just as
if an impatient fool, feeling the smart of his medi-
cine, shall tear his wounds open and throw away the
instruments of his cure, because they bring him health
at the charge of a little pain. 'EFyv; Kuftcu tah^:,; fAno-Tf^uv-
He that is full of stripes and troubles, and decked
round about with thorns, he is near to God: But he
that, because he sits uneasily when he sits near the

260 THE MERcy OF THE Semi. XIII.

kln2f that was crowned with thorns, shall remove
thence, or strew ilowers, roses and jessamine, the
down of thistles and the softest gossamer, that he
may die without pain, die quietly and like a lamb,
sink to the bottom of hell without noise ; this man is
a fool, because he accepts death, if it arrests him in
civil languaj^e, is content to die by the sentence of an
eloquent judge, and prefers a quiet passage to hell
before going to heaven in a storm.

That Italian gentleman was certainly a great lover
of his sleep, who was angry Avilh the lizard that
waked him when a viper was creeping into his
mouth : When the devil is entering into us to poison
our spirits, and steal our souls away wliile we are
sleeping in the lethargy of sin, God sends his sharp
messages to awaken us ; and we call that the enemy,
and use arts to cure the remedy, not to cure the dis-
ease. There are some persons that will never be
cured, not because the sickness is incurable, but be-
cause they have ill stomachs, and cannot keep the
medicine. Just so is his case that so despises God's
method of curing him by these instances of long suf-
ferance, that he uses all the arts he can to be quit of
his physician, and to spill his physick, and to take cor-
dials as soon as his vomit begins to work. There is
no more to be said in this affair, but to read the
poor wretch's sentence, and to declare his condition.
As at first, when he despised the first great mercies,
God sent him sharpness and sad accidents to enso-
ber his spirits : so now that he despises his mercy
also, the mercy of the rod, God will take if away
from him, and then I hope all is well. Miserable
man that thou art! this is thy undoing; if God
ceases to strike thee because thou wilt not mend,
thou art sealed up to ruin and reprobation forever;
the physician hath given thee over, he hath no kind-
ness for thee. This was the desperate estate of

Senn. XHL divine judgments. 261

Judah^ Ah sinful nation ! a people laden with iniquity :
"J hey have forsaken the Lord, they have prrovoked the
holy one of Israel. Why should you be stricken any
more?* This is the <*va3^«^a ^a/iwaS-* ; the most bitter
curse, the greatest cxromniunication, when the de-
linquent is become a hcatlien and a pubHcan without
the covenant, out of the pale of the church ; the church
had nothing to do with them : for what have I to do
ivith them that are without? said St. Paid : It was not
lawful for the church any more to punish them. And
this court Christian is an imitation and parallel of
the justice of the court of heaven : When a sinner
is not mended by judgments at long running, God
cuts him olFfrom his inheritance, and the lot of sons;
he will chastise him no more, but let him take his
course, and spend his portion of prosperity, such as
shall be allowed him in the great economy oi tlie
■world. Thus God did to his vineyard which he took
such pains to fence, to plant, to manure, to dig, to
cut, and to prune : and when after all it brought
forth wild giapes, the last and worst of God's anger
was this, jJuferam sepem ejus ;t God had fenced it
with a hedge of thorns, and God would take away
all that hedge, he would not leave a thorn standing,
not one judgment to reprove or admonish them, but
all the wild beasts, and wilder and m.ore beastly lusts,
may come and devour it, and trample it down in
scorn.

And now what shall I say, but those words quoted
by St. Paul in his sermon, behold ye despisers, and
wonder, and perish ? \ perish in your own folly by stub-
bornness and inirratitude. For it is a huoe contradic-
tion to the nature and designs of God: God calls us,
we refuse to hear; he invites us with fair promises,
we hear and consider not ; he gives us blessings, we

* Isa. 1. 4, 5. f Isa. v. 5. \ Acts siii. 41.

262 THE MERCY OF THE, &c. Semi. XIIL

take them and understand not his meaning; we take
out the token, but read not the letter : then he threat-
ens us, and we regard not; lie strikes our neighbours,
and we are not concerned : then he strikes us gently,
but we feel it not : then he does like the physician
in the Greek epigram, who being to cure a man of a
lethargy, locked him into the same room with a mad-
man, that he by dry-beating him might make him at
least sensible of blows : but this makes us instead of
running to God, to trust in unskilful physicians, or,
like Saul, to run to a Pythonisse, we run for cure to
a crime, we take sanctuary in a pleasant sin ; just as
if a man, to cure his melancholy, should desire to be
stung with a tarantula, that at least he may die mer-
rily. What is tiiere more to be done that God hath
not yet done ? He is forced at last to break off with
a Curavimus Babylonejn, et non est sanata. We dress-
ed and tended Babylon, but she was mcurable: there
is no lielp, but such persons must die in their sins, and
lie down in eternal sorrow.

SERMON XIV.

OF GROWTH IN GRACE.

2 Peter, iii. 18,

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, t©
whom be glory bolh now and for ever. Amen.

When Christianity, like the day spring from the east,
with a new hght did not onlj enlighten the world,
but amazed the minds of men, and entertained tbeir
curiosities, and seized upon their warmer and more
pregnant affections; it was no wonder that whole
nations were converted at a seimon, and multitudes
were instantly professed, and tlieir understandintrs
followed their affections, and their wills followed their
understandings, and they were convinced by miracle,
and overcome by grace, and passionate with zeal,
and wisely governed by their guides, and ravished
with the sanctity of the doctrine, and the holiness
of their examples. And this was not only their dutj',
but a great instance of providence, that by the great
religion and piety of the first profossois. Christianitv
might be firmly planted, and unshaken by scandal,
and hardened by persecution ; and that these tirst
lights might be actual precedents for ever, and copies
for us to transcribe in all descending ages of Chris-
tianity, that thither we miglit run to fetch oil to en-
kindle our extinguished lamps. But then piety was

264 OF GROWTH IN GR4CE. Scrm. XIV.

so universal, that it might well be enjoined by St.
PauL that, If a brother walked disorderly^ the Ciiris-
tians should avoid his company : He Forbade them
not, to accompany with the Heathens that walked
disorderly ; for then a man must have gone out of the
world; but they were not to endure so much as to eat
with^ or to salute a disorderly brother^ and ill-living
Christian. But now, if we should observe this canon
ot^ St. Paul, and refuse to eat or to converse with a for-
nicator, or a drunkard, or a perjured person, or covet-
ous, we must also go out of the ivorld : for a pious or
a holy person is now as rare as a disorderly Christian
was at first: and as Christianity is multiplied every
where in name and title, so it is destroyed in life,
essence, and proper operation : and we have very
great reason to fear, that Christ's name will serve us
to no end but to upbraid our baseness, and his person
only to be our judge, and his laws as so many bills
of accusation, and his graces and helps offered us
but as aggravations of our un worthiness, and our bap-
tism but an occasion of vow-breach, and the holy
communion but an act of hypocrisy, formality, or
sacrilege, and all the promises of the gospel but as
pleasant dreams, and the threatenino-s but as arts of
alTrightmcnt. For Christianity lasted pure and zeal-
ous, it kept its rules, and observed its own laws for
three hundred years, or there-abouts ; so long the
church remained a virgin; for so long they were
warmed with their first fires, and kept under disci-
pline by the rod of persecution : but it hath declined
almost fourteen hundred years together; prosperity
and pride, wantonness and great fortunes, ambition
and interest, false doctrine upon mistake and upon
design, the malice of the devil and the arts of all his
instruments, the want of zeal and a weariness of
spirit, filthy examples and a dibienutation of piety
and a strict life, seldom precedents and infinite dis-

Serm. XIV. of growth in grace. 2C5

courap^ements have caused so infinite a declension of
piet) and holy hving, tliat what Papirivs Massonim^
one ot their own, said of tlie popes oi' Itome^ In pon-
tijicibus nemo hodie sanctitatem re(jinrit ; opiimi putan-
tvr si vel leviter mali sint^ vel minus boni quam aeteri
mortales esse solent^ No man looks for holiness in the
bishops of Rome; those are the best popes who are
not extremely wicked : the same is too true of the
greatest part of Christians; men are excellent per-
sons if they be not traitors, or adulterous oppressors,
or injurious drunkards, or scandalous, if they be not
as this publican, as the vilest person with whom they
converse.

Nuric, si depositnm non inficiatur amictis
Si reddat veterem cum to. a aerugine foilera ;
Prodigiosa fides, etThuscis digna iibellis,
Quaeque coronata luslrari debeat agna.*

He that is better than the dregs of his own age,
whose religion is something above prophaneness, and
whose sobriety is a step or two from downright in-
temperance; whose discourse is not swearing, nor
yet apt to edify, whose charity is set out in piety and
a gentle yearning and saying Godhelp^ whose alms are
contemptible, and his devotion infrequent; yet as
things are now, he is umis e mUlibns^ one cf a thousand,
and he stands eminent and conspicuous in the valleys
and lower grounds of the present piety ; for a bank is

* Juven. Sat. 13. v. 60.
Now if a friend, miraculously just
Restore the entrusted coin with all its rust,
'Tis deemed a portent, worthy to appear
Amongst the wonders of the calendar;
A prodigy of faith, which threats the State,
And a ewe Iamb alone can expiate. Giffobu.

VOL. If. 35

'i6(i OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Scrm. XIV.

a mountain upon a level : But what is rare and emi-
nent in the manners of men this day, would have been
scandalous, and have deserved the rod of an apostle,
if it had been confronted with the fervours and rare
devotion and religion of our fathers in the gospel.

Men of old looked upon themselves as they stood
by the examples and precedents of martyrs, and com-
pared their piety to the life of St. Paul, and estimat-
ed their zeal by flames of the Boanerges, St. James
and his brother; and the bishops were thought re-
proval.le as tliey fell short of the ordinary govern-
ment of St. Peter and St. John; and the assemblies
of Christians were so holy, that every meeting had
religion enough to hallow a house, and convert it to
a church ; and every day of feasting was a commu-
nion, and every fasting-day was a day of repentance
and alms, and every day of thanksgiving was a day of
joy and alms ; and religion began all their actions,
and prayer consecrated them, and they ended in chari-
ty, a)id were not polluted with design: they despised
the aorld heartily, and pursued after heaven greedily,
they knew no ends but to serve God, and to be sav-
ed; and had no designs upon their neighbours, but
to lead them to God, and to felicity; till satan, fullof
envy to see such excellent days, mingled covetousness
and ambition within the throngs and conventions of the
church, and a vice crept into an office : And then the
mutual confidence grew less, and so c/ianVy was less-
ened; and heresies crept in, and then faith began to
be sallied ; and pride crept in, and then men snatched
at offices, not for the work, but for the dignity; and
then they served themselves more than God and the
church : till at last it came to that pass where now it
is, that the clergy Jive lives no better than the laity,
and the laity are stooped to imitate the evil customs
of strangers and enemies of Christianity ; so that we
should think religion in a good condition, if that men

Serin. XIV. of growth in grace. 267

did offer up to God but the actions of an ordinary.,
even., and jnst life., without the scandal and allajs ot a
great impiety. But because such is the nature of
things, that either they grow towards perieclion, or
decline towards dissolution ; there is no proper way
to secure it but by setting its growth forward : For
religion hatli no station, or natural peiiods; if it does
not grow better it grows much worse ; not that it al-
ways returns the man into scandalous sins, but that it
establishes and fixes jiim in a state of inditferency and
lukcwarmness ; and he is more averse to a state of
improvement, and dies in an incurious, ignorant and
unrelenting condition.

But groiv in grace — That is the remedy, and
that would make us all wise and happy, blessed in
this world, and sure of heaven. Concerning which
we are to consider first, What the state of grace is
into which every one of us must be entered, that we
may grow in it : secondly, The proper parts, acts,
and offices of growing in grace : thirdly. The signs,
consequences, and proper significations, by which if
we cannot perceive /^e^rowm^; yet afterwards we
may perceive that ive are grown, and so judge of the
state of our duty, and concerning our final condition
of being saved.

1. Concerning the state of grace, I consider that
no man can be said to be in the state of grace who
retains an alfection to any one sin. The state of par-
don and the divine favour begins at the first instance
of ano-er ao;ainst our crimes, when we leave our fond-
nesses and kind opinions, when we excuse them not,
and will not endure their shame, when we feel the
smarts of any of their evil consequents : for he that
is a perfect lover of sin, and is sealed tip to a reprobate
sense., endures all that sin brings along with it; and
is reconciled to all its mischiefs; he can suffer the
sickness of his own drunkenness, and yet call it plea-

268 ev ftROWTH in crack. iSerm. XIV.

sure; he can wait like a slave to serve his lust, and
yet count it no disparatjenient ; he can suffer the dis-
honour of bein<^ accounted a base and dishonest per-
son, and yet look confidently, and think himself no
worse. But when the grace of God bei;ins to wo?k
upon a man's spirit, it makes the conscience nice and
tender; and although tlie sin as yet does not displease
the man, but he can endure the flattering and allur-
ing part, yet he will not endure to be used so ill by
his sin; he will not be abused and dishonoured by
it. But because God hatli so allayed the pleasure
of his sin, that he that drinks the sweet should also
strain the dregs through his throat ; by degrees God's
grace doth irreconcile the convert, and discovers,
first its base attendants, then its worst consequents,
then tiie displeasure of God; that here commences
the first resolutions of leaving the sin, and trying if
in the service of God his spirit and the whole appe-
tite of man may be better entertained. He that is
thus far entered shall quickly perceive the difference,
and meet arguments enough to invite him farther:
for then God treats the man as he treated the spies
that went to discover the land of promise; he order-
ed the year in plenty, and directed them to a plea-
sant and a fruitful place, and prepared bunches of
grapes of a miraculous ar d prodigious greatness,
that they might report good things o( Canaan^ and
invite the whole nation to attempt its conquest; so
God's grace represents to the new converts and the
weak ones in faith, the pleasures and first delicious-
nesses of religion ; and when they come to spy the
good things of that way that leads to heaven, they
presently perceive themselves eased of the load of
an evil conscience, of their fears of death, of the
confusion of their shame, and God's spirit gives thera
a cup of sensible comfort, and makes them to rejoice
in their pra>ers, and weep wdh pleasures mingled

alerm. XIV. of growth in gracb. 269

with innocent passion and religious changes. And
although God does not deal with all men in the same
method, or in manners that can regular ly be describ-
ed, and all men do not leel, or do not observe, or
cannot for want of skill discern, such accidental
sweetnesses and pleasant grapes at his iirst entrance
into religion : yet God to every man docs minister
excellent ai'guments of invitation ; and such, that if a
man will attend to them, they will certainly move
either his atllections or his will, his fancy or his reason,
and most conimonly both. But while the spirit of
God is doing this work in man, man must also be
ovvipyr,; rau 0sow. a fcUoiu workcr witli God ; he must enter-
tain the spirit, attend his inspirations, receive his
whispers, obey all his motions, invite him farther, and
trulv renounce all confederacy with his enemy, sin;
at no haiid surTcring any root of bitterness to spring up^
not allowing to himself any reserve of carnal plea-
sure, no clancular lust, no private oppressions, no
secret covetousness, no love to this world that may
discompose his duty. For if a man prays all day,
and at night is intemperate; if he spends his time in
reading, and his recreation be sinful ; if he studies
religion, and practises self interest; if he leaves his
swearing, and yet retains his pride; if he becomes
chaste, and yet remains peevish and imperious : this
man is not chan<jed from the state of sin into the first

CD

stao^e of the state of grace, he does at no hand belong
to God; he hath suffered himself to be scared from
one sin, and tempted from another by ititerest, and
hath left a third by reason of his inclination, and a
fourth for shame, or want of opportunity, but the
spirit of God hatfi not yet planted one peifect plant
there : God may make use of the accidentally pre-
pared advantages; but as yet the spirit of God hath
not begun the proper and direct work of grace in his

'270 or GHOWTii IN GRACR. Scnu. XIV.

heart. But when we leave every sin, when we re-
solve never to return to t!ie chains, when we have
no love for the world but such as may be a servant
of God: then I account that we are entered into a
state of grace, from whence I am now to begin to
reckon the commencement of this precept. Grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,
2. And now the first part of this duty is, to make
religion to be the business of our lives ; for this is the
great instrument which will naturally produce our
growth in grace, and the perfection of a Christian.
For a man cannot after a state of sin be instantly a
saint ; the work of heaven is not done by a flash of
licfhtnino;. or a dash of affectionate rain, or a few tears
of a relenting pity ; God and his church have ap-
pointed holy intervals, and have taken portions of our
time for religion, that we may be called off from the
world and remember the end of our creation, and do
honour to God, and think of heaven with hearty pur-
poses and peremptory designs to get thither. But,
as we must not nej^lect those times which God hath
reserved for his service, or the church hath prudently
decreed ; nor yet act religion upon such days with
forms and outsides, or to comply with customs, or to
seem religious : so, we must take care that all the
other portions of our time be hallowed with little re-
tirements of our thoughts, and short conversationa
with God, and all along be guided with holy inten-
tion ; that even our works of nature may pass into
the relations of grace, and the actions of our calling
may help towards the obtaining the prize of our high
calling : while our eatings are actions of temperance,
our labours are profitable, our humiliations are acts
of obedience, and our alms of charity, and our mar-
riages are chaste ; and whether we eat or drink, sleep
or wake, we ma}' do all to the glory of God, by a direct
intuition or by a reflex act, by design or by supple-

^rm. XIV. OF GROWTH IN GRACE. 271

ment, by foresight or by an after election. And to
this purpose we rniist not look upon religion as our
trouble and our hinderance, nor think alms chargea-
ble or expensive, nor our fastings vexatious and bur-
thensome, nor our prayers a weariness of spirit ; but
we must make these, and all other the duties of reli-
gion, our employment, our care, the work and end
for which we came into the world ; and remember
that we never do the work of men, nor serve the ends
of God, nor are in the proper employment and busi-
ness of our life, but when we worship God, or live like
wise or sober persons, or do benefit to our brother.
I will not turn this discourse into a reproof, but
leave it represented as a duty : Remember that God
sent you into the world for religion : we are but to
pass through our pleasant fields or our hard labours,
but to lodge a little while in our fair palaces or our
meaner cottages, but to bait in the way at our full
tables or with our spare diet : but then only man does
his proper employment, when he prays, and does
chanty, and mortifies his unruly appetites, and re-
strains his violent passions, and becomes like to God,
and imitates his holy Son, and writes after the copies
of apostles and saints. Then he is dressing himself
for eternity, where he must dwell or abide either in
an excellent beatifical country, or in a prison of
amazement and eternal horrour. And after all this,
you may if you please, call to mind how much time
you allow to God and to your souls every day, or
every month, or in a year if you please; for I fear
the account of the time is soon made, but the account
for the neglect will be harder. And it will not easily
be answered, that all our days and years are little
enough to attend perishing things, and to be swallow-
ed up in avaricious and vain attendances, and we shall
not attend to religion with a zeal so great as is our
revenge, or as is the hunger of one meal. Without

272 OP GROWTH IN GRACE. Semi. XIV.

much time, and a weary life, and a diligent circunn-
spertion, .we cannot mortify our sins, or do the first
works of .^race. 1 pray God we be not found to have
grown like the sinews of old age, from strength to
remissness, from thence to dissolution, and inlirmity,
and death : Menedemus was wont to say, that the
young boys that went to j^thens^ the first year were
wise men^ the second year philosophers., the third ora-
tors., and the fourth were but plebeians^ and understood
nothing but their own ignorance. And just so it
happens to some in the progresses of religion : at first
they are violent and active, and then they satiate all
the appetites of religion; and that which is left is,
that they were soon weary, and sat down in displea-
sure, and return to the world, and dwell in the busi-
ness of pride or money : and by this time they under-
stand that their religion is declined, and passed from
the heats and follies of youth, to the coldness and
inlirmities of old age. The remedy of which is only
a diligent spirit and a busy religion, a great industry
and a full portion of time in holy offices: that as the
oracle said to the Cirrhaeans., JVoctes., diesque bellige-
randum^ they could not be happy unless they waged
war night and day ; so, unless we perpetually fight
against our own vices, and repel our ghostly enemies
and stand upon our guard, we must stand for ever in
the state of babes in Christ, or else return to the first
imperfections of an unchristened soul, and an unsanc-
tified spirit. That is the first particular.

2. The second step of our growth in grace is, when
virtues grow habitual., apt and easy in our manners
and dispositions. For although many new converts
have a great zeal, and a busy s[)irit, apt enough (as
they think) to contest against all the difficulties of a
spiritual life ; yet they meet with such powerful op-
positions from without, and a false heart within, that
their first heats are soon broken, and either they are

Serm. XIV. of growth in oracb* 2r3

for ever discoiirao^ed, or are forced to march more
glowly, and proceed more temperately forever after.

It is an easy tht?i^ to commit a unckedncss^ for temp-
tation and Iniiimity are always too near us. But God
hatli made care and sweat, prudence and diligence,
experience and watchfulness, wisdom and labour at
home, and 2:ood guides abroad, to be instruments and
means to purchase virtue.

The way is long and difficult at first ; but in the
progress and pursuit we find all the knots made plain,
and the rough ways made smooth.

^jam monte potitus

Ridet 1

Now the spirit of grace is like a new soul within
him, and he hath new appetites and new pleasures,
when the things of the world grow unsavoury, and
the things of religion are delicious; when his temp-
tations to his old crimes retuin but seldom, and
prevail not at all, or in very inconsiderable instan-
ces, and stay riot at all, but are reproached with a
penitential sorrow and speedy amendment ; when we
do actions of virtue quickly, frequently, and with de-
light : then we have grown in grace in the same
degree in which they can perceive these excellent
dispositions. Some persons there are who dare not
sin ; they dare not omit their hours of prayer, and
they are restless in their spirits till they have done;
but they go to it as to execution ; they stay from it

*HesiodOp. D. L. 1. v. 285.

Flowery and near the path that leads astray.

And tempting pleasure guides us on the way. A.

t He snailes in triumph when the Rummit's gained. A.

VOL. »i. 36

274 OP GROWTH IN GRACE. Serm. XIV,

as long as they can, and they drive like Pharaoh's
chariots with tiie wheels off, sadly and heavily : and
besides, that such persons have reserved to them-
selves the best part ot" their sacrifice, and do not ^\\e
their will to God, they do not love liim with all their
heart ; they are also soonest tempted to retire and
fall off- Scxlius Romamis resigned the honours and
offices of the city, and betook himself to the severity
of a philosophical life : but when his unusal diet and
hard labour began to pinch his flesh, and he felt his
propositions smart, and that which was fine in dis-
course at a symposiack or an academical dinner, be-
gan to sit uneasily upon him in the practice ; he so
despaired, that he had like to have cast himself into
the sea, to appease the labours of his religion ; be-
cause he never had gone farther than to think it a
fine thing to be a wise man : he would commend it,
but he was loath to pay for it at the price that God
and the philosopher set upon it. But he that is
grown in grace^ and hath made religion habitual to
his spirit, is not at ease but when he is doing the
Avorks of the new man ; he rests in religion, and
comforts his sorrows with thinking of his prayers, and
in ail crosses of the world he is patient, because his
joy is at hand to refresh him when he list, for he
cares not so he may serve God: and if you make
him poor here, he is rich there, and he counts that
to bo his proper service, his tvork, his recreation, and
reivarfl.

3. But because in the course of holy living, al-
thougli the duty be regular and constant, yet the
sensible relisiies and the flowerings of affections, the
zeal and the visible expressions do not always make
the same emission ; but sometimes by design, some-
times bv order, and sometimes by affection Ave are
more busy, more intire, and more intent upon the
actions of religion: in such cases we arc to judge of

Serrn. XIV. of orowth in grvce. 275

our growth Iti grace, if after every interval of extra-
ordinary piety, the next return be more devout and
more alTectionate, the labour be more cheerful and
more active, and if religion returns oftener, and stays
lono'er in tlie same expressions, and leaves mo;e
satisfaction upon the spnit. Are your communions
more frequent ? and, when they aie, do ye approach
nearer to God? have you made firmer resolutions,
and entertained more hearty purposes of amend-
ment ? do you love God more dutifully, and your
neighbour WMth a greater chanty? do you not so
easily return to the world as formerly ? are not you
glad when the thing is done ? Do you go to your
secular accounts with a more weaned alfection than
before ? if you communicate well, it is certain tliat
you will still do it better: if you do not communicate
well, every opportunity of doing it is but a new
trouble, easily excused, readily omitted, done because
it is necessary, but not because we love it : and we
shall find that such persons in their old age do it
worst of all. And it was observed by a Spmiish con-
fessor who was also a famous preacher, that in per-
sons not very reli2:ious, the confessions wdiich thev
made upon their death-bed were the coldest, the
most imperfect, and with less contrition tlian all
that he had observed them to make in many yeais
before. For so the canes of Egypt when they new-
ly arise from their bed of mud and slime of JVihts,
start up into an equal and continual length, and are
interru[)tcd but with few knots, and are strong and
beauteous with great distances and intervals : but
when they are grown to their full length, they lessen
into the point of a pyramid, and multiply their knots
and joints, interrupting the fineness and smoothness
of its body. So are the steps and declensions of him
that does not grow in grace : at first, when he springs
lip from his impurity by the waters of baptism and

^76 OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Scrm. XTVr

repentance, he grows straight and strong, and suf-
fers but few Interruptions of piety, and ijis constant
courses of reliojion are but rarely intermitted, till
they ascend up to a full age, or towards the ends of
their hfe ; then they are weak, and their devotions
often intermitted, and their breaches are frequent,
and they seek excuses, and labour for dispensations,
and love God and religion less and less, till their old
age, instead of a crown of their virtue and persever-
ance, ends in levity and unprofitable courses; light
and useless as the tufted feathers upon the cane,
every wind can play with it and abuse it, but no man
can make it useful. When therefore our piety in-
terrupts its greater and more solemn expressions,
and upon the return of the greater offices and big-
ger solemnities, we find them to come upon our spi-
rits like the wave of a tide, which retired only be-
cause it was natural so to do, and yet came farther
upon the strand at the next rolling; when every
new confession, every succeeding communion, eveiy
time of separation for more solemn and intense pray-
er is better spent and more affectionate, leaving a
greater relish upon the spirit, and possessing greater
portions of our affections, our reason and our choice;
then we mav give God thanks, who hath given us
more grace to use that grace, and a blessing to en-
deavour our duty, and a blessing upon our endeavour.
4. To discern our growth in grace, we must in-
quire concerning our passions, whether they be mor-
tified and quiet, complying with our ends of virtue,
and under command. For since the passions are the
matter of virtue and vice respectively, he that hath
brought into his power all the strengths of the enemy,
and the forts from whence he did infest him, he only
hath secured his holy walking with God. But be-
cause this thing is never perfectly done, and yet must
always be doing, grace grows according as we have

Serm. XIV. of growth in grace. 277

finished our portions of this work. And in this wc
must not only inquire concerning our passions, whe-
ther they be sinful and habitually prevalent; for if
they be, we are not in the state of grace : but whether
they return upon us in violences and undecencies, in
transportation and unreasonable and imprudent ex-
pressions: for although a good man may be incident
to a violent passion, and that without sin ; yet a
perfect man is not, a well-grown Christian hath sel-
dom such sufferings; to sutfer such things sometimes
may stand with the being of virtue^ but not with its
security. For if passions range up and down, and
transport us frequently and violently, we may keep
in our forts and in our dwellings, but our enemy is
master of the field, and our virtues are restrained,
and apt to be starved, and will not hold out long.
A good man may be spotted with a violence, but a
wise man will not : and he that does not add wisdom
to his virtue^ the knowledge of Jesus Christ to his vir-
tuous habits., will be a good man but till a storm come.
But beyond this, inquire after the state of your pas-
sions in actions of religion. Some men fast to mortify
their lust, and their fasting makes them peevish;
some reprove a vice, but they do it with much impa-
tience ; some charitably give excellent counsel, but
they do that also with a pompous and proud spirit :
and passion being driven from open hostilities, is
forced to march along in the retinue and troops of
virtue. And although this be rather a deception and
a cozenage than an imperfection, and supposes a state
of sin rather than an imperfect grace ; yet because
it tacitly and secretly creeps along among the cir-
cumstances of pious actions, as it spoils a virtue in
some, so it lessens it in others, and therefore is con-
siderable also in this question.

And although no man must take accounts of his
kung in or out of the state of grace by his being dis-

278 OF OKOUTll IN CUACE. (SV^Wl. XlV.

passionate, and free from all the assaults of passion:
yet, as to the securing his being in the state of grace,
he must provide that he be not a slave of passion ;
so, to declare his growt/i in trrace^ he must be sure to
take the measures of his atfections, and see that they
be lessened, more apt to be suppressed, not breaking
out to inconvenience and imprudences, not rifling our
spirit, and drawing us from our usual and more sober
tempers. Try therefore if your fear be turned into
caution, your lust into chaste friendships, your impe-
rious spirit into prudent government, your revenge
into justice, your anger into charity, and your pee-
vishness and rage into silence and suppression of lan-
guage. Is our ambition changed into virtuous and
noble thoughts ? can we emulate without envy ? Is
our covetousness lessened into good husbandry, and
mingled with alms, that we may certainly discern the
love of money to be gone ? Do we love to despise
our inferiours ? and can we willingly endure to admit
him that excels us in any gift or grace whatsoever,
and to commend it without abatement, and minGflino-
allays with the commendation, and disparagements
to the man ? If we be arrived but thus far, it is well,
and we must go farther. But we use to think that
all disaifections of the body arc removed, if they be
chan2;ed into the more tolerable, although we have
not an atliletick health, or the strength of porters or
wrestlers. For although it be felicity to be quit of
all passion that may be sinful or violent, and part of
the happiness of heaven shall consist in that freedom ;
yet our growth in grace consists in the remission and
lessening of our passions : only he that is incontinent
in his lust or in his anger, in his desires of money or
of honour, in his revenge or in his fear, in his joys or
in his sorrows ; that man is not groivn at all in the
grace and knoivlcdge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This
onlv; in the scrutiny and conseq^uent judgment con-

Serm. XV. of growth in gracf.. 279

ccrnlng our passions, it will concern the curiosity of
our care to watch against passions in the reflex act,
against pride, or lust, complacency, and peevishness
attendinc; upon virtue. For he was noted for a vain
person, who being overjoyed for the cure of his piide,
(as he thought) cried out to his wife, Ccrnc, Dionysia^
deposui fastum^ Behold., I have laid aside all my pride ;
and of that very dream the silly man thought he had
reason to boast ; but considered not that it was an
act of pride, and levity besides. If thou hast given
a noble present to thy friend, if thou hast rejected
the unjust desire of thy |)rince, if thou hast endured
thirst and hunfjer for re!io;ion or continence, if thou
hast refused an offer like that Avhich was made to
Joseph; sit down and rest in thy good conscience,
and do not please thyself in opinions and fantastick
noises abroad, and do not despise him that did not do
so as thou hast done, and reprove no man with an
upbraiding circumstance : for it will give thee but an
ill-return and a contemptible reward, if thou shalt
overlay thy infant-virtue, or drown it with a flood of
breast-milk.

SERMON XV.

PART II.

5. He Is well grown in or towards the state of
grace, who is more patient of a sharp reproof than of
a secret flattery. For a reprehension contains so
much mortification to the pride and complacencies of
a man, is so great an atTront to an easy and undis-
turbed person, is so empty of pleasure and so full of

280 OP GROWTH IN GRACE. Sfevm. XV.

profit, that he must needs love virtue In a great de-
gree who can take in that which only serves her end,
and is displeasant to himself and all his gayeties. A
severe reprehender of another's vice comes dressed
like Jacob when he went to cozen his brother of his
blessing ; his outside is rough and hairy ^ but the voice
is JacoVs voice : rough hands and a healthful lan-
guage get the blessing, even against the will of him
that shall feel it ; but he that is patient and even^ not
apt to excuse his fault, that is less apt to anger, or to
scorn him that snatches him rudely from the flames
of hell, he is virtue's confessor, and suffers these les-
ser stripes for that interest which will end in spiri-
tual and eternal benedictions.

They who are furious against their monitors are
incorrigible : but it is one degree of meekness to suffer
discipline ; and a meek man cannot easily be an ill
man, especially in the present instance ; he appears,
at least, to have a healthful constitution; he hath good
flesh to heal ; his spirit is capable of medicine ; and
that man can never be despaired of who hath a dis-
position so near his health as to improve all physick,
and whose nature is relieved from every good acci-
dent froQi without. But that which I observe is, That
this is not only a good disposition towards repen-
tance and restitution, but is a sign of growth in grace,
according as it becomes natural, easy, and hahitual.
Some men chide themselves for all tlieir misdemea-
nours, because they would be represented to the
censures and opinions of other men with a fair cha-
racter, and such as need not to be reproved : others
out of inconsideration sleep in their own dark rooms,
and, until the charity of a guide or of a friend draws
the curtain, and lets in a beam of light, dream on,
until the grave opens, and hell devours them : but if
they be called upon by the grace of God, let down
with a sheet of counsels and friendly precepts, they

Serm. XV. of growth in" grace. 281

are presently inclined to be obedient to the heavenly
monitions; but unless they be dressed with circum-
stances orh(;.,our and civility, with arts of entertain-
ment and insinuation, they are rejected utterly, pr
received unwillingly. Therefore although upon any
terms to endure a sharp reproof be a good sign of
amendment; yet the growth of grace is not properly
signified by every such sufferance : for when this
disposition begins, amendment also begins, and goes
on in proportion to the increment of this. To en-
dure a reproof without adding a new sin is the first
step to amendment; that is, to endure it without
scorn, or hatred, or indignation. 2. The next is to
sulfer reproof without excusing ourselves ; for he
that is apt to excuse himself is only desirous in a ci-
vil manner to set the reproof aside, and to represent
the charitable monitor to be too hasty in his judg-
ment, and deceived in his information ; and the fault
to dwell there, not with himself. 3. Then he that
proceeds in this instance admits the reprover's ser-
mon or discourse without a private regret: he hath no
secret murmurs or unwillingnesses to the humiliation,
but is only ashamed that he should deserve it ; but
for the reprehension itself, that troubles him not, but
he looks on it as his own medicine, and the other's
charity. 4. But if to this he adds, that he volunta-
rily confesses his own fault, and of his own accord vo-
mits out the loads of his own intemperance, and eases
his spirit of the infection ; then it is certain he is not
only a professed and hearty enemy against sin, but a
zealous and a prudent and an active person against
all its interest, and never counts himself at ease but
while he rests upon the banks of Sion, or at the gates
of the temple ; never pleased but in virtue and reli-
gion : then he knows the state of his soul, and the
state of his danger; he reckons it no abjection to be
abased in the face of man, so he may be gracious in
VOL. II. 37

2^2 OF GKOWTH IK GRACE. Scmi. XK.

the eyes of God : and that is a sign of a good grace
and a ho!y wisdom ; that man is grown in the grace
of God^ and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Justus in principio sermonis est accusator sui^ said the
wise man, The righteous accuscth himself in the begin-
ning ; that is, quickly, lest he be prevented. And
certain it is, he cannot, be either wise or good, that
had rather have a real sin within him, than that a
good man should believe him to be a repenting sin-
ner; that had rather keep his crime, than lose his re-
putation ; that is, rather to be so, than to be thought
so; rather be without the favour of God than of his
neighbour. Diogenes once spied a young man com-
ing out of a tavern or place of entertainment ; who
perceiving himself observed by the philosopher, with
some confusion stepped back again, that he might (if
possible) preserve his fame with that severe person.
But Diogenes told him, Quanto magis intraveris, tanto
inagis eris in cawpona. The more you go back, the
longer you are in the place where you are ashamed
to be seen. And he that conceals his sin, still retains
that which he counts his shame and his burthen. Hip-
pocrates was noted for an ingenuous person, that he
published and confessed his errour concerning the
sutures of the head : and all ages since St. Austin
have called him pious, for writino; his book of retrac-
tations, in which he published his former ignorance
and mistakes; and so set his shame off to the world
invested with a garment of modesty, and above half
changed before they were seen. I did the rather
insist upon this particular, because it is a considera-
tion of huge concernment, and yet much neglected
in all its instances and degrees. We neither confess
our shame, nor endure it ; we are privately troubled,
and publickly excuse it ; we turn charity into bit-
terness, and our reproof into contumacy and scorn :
and wiio is there amongst us that can endure a
personal charge, or is not to be taught his personal

Serm. XV. of growth in grace. 283

duty by general discoursings, by parable and apo-
logue, by acts of Insinuation and wary distances ? Bnt
by this state of persons we know the estate of our
own spirits.

When God sent his prophets to the people, and
they stoned them with stones^ and sawed them asunder,
and cast them into dungeons, and made them beggars,
the people fell into the condition of Babijlon^ Quam
curavimus, et non est sanata ; iVe healed her (said the
prophets) but she would not be cured: Derelinquamus
earn, that is her doom ; let her enjoy her sins, and all
tlie fruits of sin laid up in treasures of wrath against
the day of vengeance and retribution.

6. He that is ofrown in o-race and the knowlcdo-e
of Christ, esteems no sin to be little or contemptible,
none fit to be cherished or indulged to. For it is not
only inconsistent with the love of God to entertain
any indecency or beginning of a crime, any thing
that displeases him ; but he always remembers how
much it cost him to arrive at the state of good things,
whither the grace of God hath already brought him:
he thinks of his prayers and tears, his restless nights
and his daily fears, his late escape and his present
danger, the ruins of his former state and the difficulty
and impeifect reparations of this new, his proclivity
and aptness to vice, and natural averseness and uneasy
inclinations to the strictness of holy living; and wlien
these are considered truly, they naturally nmke a man
unwilling to entertain any beginnings of a state of
life contrary to that which with so much danger and
difficulty, through so many objections and enemies,
he hath attained. And tiie truth is, when a man hath
escaped the dangers of his hrst state of sin, he cannot
but be extremely unwilling to return again thither,
in which he can never hope for heaven. And so it
must be ; for a man must not flatter himself in a small
crime, and say, as Lot did when he begged a reprieve

284 OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Serm. XV.

for Zoar, Jllas, Lorcl^ is it not a little owe, and my soul
shall live 7 And il is not therefore to be entertained
because it is little ; for it is the more without excuse
if !t be little, the temptations to it are not great, the
alhjiements not mighty, the promises not ensnaring,
the resistance easy; and a wise man considers, it is a
greater danger to be overcome bj a little sin, than by
a great one ; a greater clamper (1 say) not directly,
but accidentally ; not in respect of the crime, but in
relation to the person : for he that cannot overcome a
small crime is in the state of infirmity so great,
that he perishes infallibly when he is arrested by the
sins of a stronger temptation; but he that easily can,
and yet will not, he is in love with sin, and courts his
danger, that he may at least kiss the apples of para-
dise, or feast himself with the parings, since he is by
some displeasing instrument at!nghted from glutting
himself with the forbidden fruit in ruder and bigger
instances. But the well-o-rown Christian is curious
of his new-trimmed soul, and, like a nice person with
clean clothes, is careful that no spot or stain sully
the virgin-whiteness of his robe : whereas another,
whose albes of baptism are sullied in many places
with the smoke and tilth of Sodom and uncleanness,
cares not in what paths he treads, and a shower of
dirt changes not his state who already lies wallowing
in the puddles of impurity. It makes men negligent
and easy, when they have an opinion or certain
knowledge that they are persons extraordinary in
nothing, that a little care will not mend them, that
another sin cannot make them much worse: but it is
a sign of a tender conscience and a refoimed spirit,
when it is sensible of every alteration, when an idle
word is troublesome, when a wandering thought puts
the vvhoie spirit upon its guard, when too free a mer-
riment is wiped ofi'with a sigh and a sad thought, and
a Beyere recollection, and a holy prayer. Polycletv^

Serm. XT. of growth in crace:. 286

was wont to say, that they had work enough to do
who were to make a curious picture of clay and dirt,
when they were to take accounts for the hand lin^)^ of
mud and mortar. A man's spirit is naturally careless
of baser and uncostly mateiiols' : but if a man be to
work in gold, then he will save the filings of his dust,
aiid suffer not a giain to perish : and uhen a man
hath laid his foundations in precious stones, he will
noi build vile matter, stubble and dirt u[)on it. So
it IS in the spirit of a man : If he have built upon the
rock Christ Jesiis\ and is grown up to a good stature
in Christ, he will not easily dishonour his building,
nor lose his lab'ouis, by an incurious entertainment
of vanities and little instances of sin : which as ihey
can never satisfy any lust or appetite to sin. so they
are like a fly in a box of ointment, or like i; le follies
to a wise man ; they are extremely full of dishonour
and disparai^ement, they disarray a man's soui of his
virtue, and dishonour him for cockle-shells and bau-
bles, and tempt to a greater folly: which every man
who is grown in the knowledge of Christ therefore
carefully avoids, because he fears a relapse, with a
fear as great as his hopes of heaven are ; and knows
that the entertainment of small sins does but entice a
man's resolutions to disband ; they unravel and un-
twist his holy purposes, and begin in infirmities, and
proceed in folly, and end in deaih.

7. He that is grown in grace pursues virtue for its
own interest, purely and simply, without the mixture
and alloy of collateral designs and equally inclining
purposes. God in the beginning of our returns to
him entertains us with promises and threatcnings, the
apprehensions of temporal advantages, with fear and
shame, and with reverence of friends and secular re-i
spects, with reputation and coercion of human laws ;
and at first men snatch at the lesser and lower ends,
of virtue : and such rewards as are visible, and which,

286 OF GROWTH iw GRACE. ' Serm. XV.

God sometimes gives in hand to entertain our weak
and imperfect desires. Tiie young philosoj)hers
were very forward to get the precepts of their sect,
and the rules of seventy, that they might discourse
with kings, not that they might reform their own
manners : and some men study to get the ears and
tongues of the people, rather than to gain their souls
to God; and they obey good laws for fear of punish-
ment, or to preserve their own peace ; and some are
worse, they do good deeds out of spite, and preach
Christ out of envy., or to lessen the authority and fame
of others. Some of these lessen the excellence of the
act, others spoil it quite ; it is in some imperfect, in oth-
ers criminal ; in some it is consistent with a beginning
infant-grace, in others it is an argument of the state
of sin and death: but in all cases the well-grown
Christian, he that improves or goes forward in his
way to heaven, brings virtue forth, not into discourses
and panegyricks, but into his life and manners. His
virtue, although it serves many good ends accidental-
ly; yet by his intention it only suppresses his inordinate
passions, makes him temperate and chaste, casts out
his devils of drunkenness and lust, pride and rage,
malice and revenge ; it makes him useful to his broth-
er and a servant of God. And although these flowers
cannot choose but please his eye, and delight his smell:
yet he chooses to gather honey, and hcks up the
dew of heaven, and feasts his spirit upon the manna,
and dwells not in the collateral usages and accidental
sweetnesses which dwell at the gates of other senses,
but, like a bee, loads his thighs with wax, and his bag
with honey, that is, with the useful parts of virtue,
in order to holiness and felicity. Of which the best
signs and notices we can take will be ; if we as earn-
estly pursue virtues which are acted in private, as
those whose scene lies in publick; if we pray in pri-
vate, under the only eye of God and his ministering

^ierm. XV. of growth in grace. 287

angels, as in churches ; if we give our alms in secret,
rather than in pubhck; if we take more pleasure in
the just satisfaction of our consciences, than securing
our reputation; if we rather pursue innocence, than
seek an excuse; if we desire to please God, though we
lose our fame with men ; if we be just to the poorest
servant as to the greatest prince ; if we choose to be
among the jewels of God, though we be the Ts^waSag/^^T*,
the off-scouring of the world : if when we aie secure
from witnesses and accusers, and not obnoxious to
the notices of the law, wc think ourselves obliged by
conscience and practice, and live accordingly : then
our services and intentions in virtue are right, then
we are past the twilights of conversion, and the
umbrages of the world, and walk in the light of God,
of his word, and of his spirit, of grace and reason, as
becoraeth not babes but men in Christ Jesus. In this
progress of grace 1 have not yet expressed, that per-
fect persons should serve God out of mere love of
God and the divine excellences, without the consi-
derations of either heaven or hell : such a thing as
that is talked of in mystical theology. And 1 doubt
not, but many good persons come to that growth of
charity, that the goodness and excellence of God are
more incumbent and actually pressing upon their spirit
than any considerations of reward. But then I shall
add this, that when persons come to that height of
grace, (or contemplation rather) and they love God
for himself, and do their duties in order to the fruition
of him and his pleasure; ail that is but heaven in
another sense, and under another name : just as the
mystical theology is the highest duty, and the choicest
part of obedience under a new method. But in order
to the present, that which f call a signification of our
grotvth in grace is, a pursuance of virtue upon such
reasons as are propounded to us as motives in Chris-
tianity, (such as are to glorify God, and enjoy his

288 Off OROWfH IN GRACE. Serm. XVc

promises in the way and in our country^ to avoid the
dispioiasiire ofGod : and to be united to his glories;)
and then to exercise virtue in such parts and to such
purposes as are useful to good life, and profitable to
our neighbours : not to such only where they serve
reputation, or secular ends. For thouL:;h the great
physician of our souls liath mingled prohts and plea-
s ires witfi virtue, to make its chalice sweet and apt
to be drank otf; yet he that takes out the sweet ingre-
dient, and feasts his palate with the less wholesome
part, because it is delicious, serves a low end of sense
or interest, but serves not God at all; and as little
does benefit to his soul. Such a person is like Ho-
rner's bird, deplumes himself to feather all the naked
callows that he sees; and holds a taper that may
liorht others to heaven, while he burns his own fino;ers:
but a well-grown person, out of habit and choice, out
of love and virtue and just intention, goes on his
journey in straight ways to heaven, even when the
bridle and coercion of laws, or the spurs of interest
or reputation are laid aside; and desires witnesses of
his actions, not that he may advance his fame, but
for reverence and fear, and to make it still more
necessary to do holy things.

8. Some men there are in the bea'innina: of their
holy walking with God, and while they are babes in
Christ, who are presently busied in delights of prayers,
and rejoice in publick communion, and count all so-
lemn assemblies festival; but as they are pleased
with them, so they can easily be without them. It is
a sign of a common and vulgar love, only to be pleas-
ed with the com.pany of a friend, and to be as well
without him : Amoris at morsmn qui vere senserit, He
that has felt the sling of a sharp and very dear atfec-
tioii,is impatient in the absence of his beloved objetc:
tile soul that is sick and swallowed up witli holy fire,
loves nothing else; all, pleasures else seem unsavoury,

i^erm. XV. of growth in grace. 289

company is troublesome, visitors are tedious, homi-
lies of comfort are flat and useless. '1 he |»lcasuies
of virtue to a good and perfect man, are not like the
perfumes of nard-pistick, which is ^^ry delightful when
the box is new!y broken, but tlie want of it is no trou-
ble, we are well enough without it; but virtue is
like hunger and thirst, it must be satisfied or we die.
And when we feel great longings after religion, and
faintings for want of holy nutriment, when a famine
of the word and sacraments is more intolerable, and
we think ourselves really most miserable when the
church doors are shut against us, or like the Chris-
tians in the persecution of the Vandals, who thought
it worse than death that their bishops were taken
from them ; if we understand excommunication or
church censures (abating the disreputation and secu-
lar appendages) in the sense of the spirit to be a mise*
ry next to hell itself; then we have made a good
progress in the charity and grace of God : till then
we are but pretenders, or infants, or imperfect, in the
same detj^ree in which our ati'ections are cold and our
desires remiss. For a constant and prudent zeal is
the best testimony of our masculine and vigorous
heats ; and an hour of fervour is more pleasing to
God than a month of lukewarmnessand indilference.

9. But as some are active only in the presence of
a good object, but remiss and careless for the want
of it; so on the other side, an infant-grace is safe in
the absence of a temptatiun, but falls easily when
it is in presence. He therefoje that would under-
stand if he be grown in grace, may consider if his
safety consists only in peace, or in the strength of the
spirit. It is good that we will not seek out opportu-
nities to sin; but are not we too apprehensive of it
when it is presented ? or do we not sink under it
when it presses us ? Can we hold our tapers near the
flames, and not suck it in greedily like naphtha ov ^re^

^ OL. ir. 38

-y^ OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Scrm. XV.

jDared nitre ? or can we, like the children of the cap-
tivity, walk in the midst of flames, and not be scorch-
ed or consumed ? Many men will not, like Judah,
fro into high ways, and untie the girdles of harlots:
but can you reject the importunity of a beauteous and
an imperious lady, as Joseph did ? We had need pray
that we be not led into temptation ; that is, not only
into the possession, but not into the allurements and
neighbourhood of it ; lest by little and little, our
strongest resolutions be untwist, and crack in sunder
Idee an easy cord severed into sii]gle threads : but if
we, by the necessity ol our lives and manner of liv-
ing, dwell where a temptation will assault us, then to
resist is the sign of a great grace ; but such a sign,
that without it the grace turns to wantonness, and
the man into a beast, and an angel into a devil, i?.
Moses will not allow a man to oe a true penitent, un-
til he hath left all his sin, and in all the hke circum-
stances refuses those temj'taiions under which for-
merly he sinned and died : and indeed it may happen
that such a trial only can secure our judgment con-
cernin<r ourselves. And althougrh to be tried in all
the same accidents be not sale, nor always contin-
gent, and in such cases it is sufficient to resist all the
.temptations we have, and avoid the rest, and decree
against all ; yet if it please God we are tempted, as
David was by his eyes, or the martyrs by tortures,
or Joseph by his wanton mistress; then to stand sure,
and to ride upon the temptation like a ship upon a
wave, or to stand like a rock in an impetuous storm,
that is the sig-n of a erreat ffrace, and of a well-grown
l.'hristian.

10. No man is grown in grace but he that is ready
for every work, tliat chooses not his employment, that
refuses no imposition from God or his superiour. A
ready hand, an obedient heart, and a willing cheer-
ful soul in all the work of God, and in every oflice

Serm. XV. op growth in gracb. C9l

of religion, is a o-reat index of a good proficient in
the ways of godliness. The heart of a man is like a
wounded hand or arm, wliicli if it be so cured tiiat it
can only move one way, and cannot turn to all j os-
tures and natural uses, it is but imj)erfect, and still
half in health, and half-wounded: so is our spirit;
if it be apt for prayer and close-fisted in alms, il it
be sound in faith and dead in charity, if it be religious
to God and unjust to our neighbour, there wants
some integral part, or there is a lanjencss : and the
dehciency in any one duty implies the guilt of all,
(said St. James ;) and, Bonmnex mtegra ciwsa^ mulimi
ex qimlibet pardcu/ari^ exery fault spoils a grace: but
one jjrace alone cannot make a oood man. But as
to be universal in our obedience is necessary to the
being in the state of grace; so, readily to change
employment from the better to the worse, from the
honourable to the poor, fiom useful to seemingly un-
profitable, is a good character of a well-grown Chris-
tian, if he takes the worst part with indifference ;
and a spirit equally choosing all the events of the
divine Providence. Can you be content to descend
from ruling of a province to the keeping of a herd,
from the work of an apostle to be confined in a
prison, from disputing before princes to a conversa-
tion with shepherds? can you be willing to all tliat
God is willing, and suffer all that he chooses, as wil-
lingly as if you had chosen your own fortune ? hi the
same degree in which you can conform to God,
in the same you have approached towards that per-
fection, whither we must by degrees arrive in our jour-
ney towards heaven. This is not to be expected of
beginners ; for they must be enticed with apt em-
ployments: and it may be their office and work so
fits their spirits, that it makes them first in love with
it, and then with God for giving it. And many a man
goes to heaven in the days of peace, whose faith and

292 OP GROWTH Iff GRACE. Sevm. XV.

hope and patience would have been dashed in pieces,
if he had fallen into a storm or persecution. Op-
pression will make a ivise man mad (saith Solomon ;)
there are some usages that will put a sober person out
of all patience, such which are besides the customs of
this life, and contrary to all his hopes, and unworthy
of a person of his quality. And when J\''ero durst
not die, yet when his servants told him that the sena-
tors had condemned him to be put to death, morema-
jonmi, that is, by scourging like a slave, he was forced
into preternatural confidence, and fell upon his own
sword. But when God so changes thy estate, that
thou art fallen into accidents to which thou art no
otherwise disposed but. by grace and a holy spirit,
and yet thou canst pass through them with quietness,
and do the work of sutlering as well as the works
of prosperous employment ; this is an argument of
a great grace and an extraordinary spirit. For many
persons in a change of fortune perish, who if they
had still been prosperous had gone to prison; being
tempted in a persecution to perjuries and apostacy,
and unhandsome compliances, and hypocrisy, and
irreli^ion : and many men are brought to virtue, and
to God, and to felicity, by being persecuted and made
uaprosperous. And these are effects of a more ab-
solute and irrespective predestination. But Avhen
the grace of God is great and prudent, and mascu-
line, and well grown, it is unaltered in all changes;
save only that every accident that is new and violent
brings him nearer to God, and makes him with
greater caution and severity to dwell in virtue.

11. Lastly, some there are who are firm in all
great and foreseen changes, and have laid up in the
store-houses of the spirit (^reason and religion^ argu-.
ments and discourses enough to defend them against
all violences, and stand at watch so much that they
are safe where they can consider and deliberate; but

Serm. XV. of crowtit ix grace. 293

there may be something wanting yet : and in the
direct line, in the straiglit progress to heaven, I call
that an infallible sign of a great grace, and indeed
the greatest degree of a great grace, when a man is
prepared against sudden invasions of the spirit, sur-
reptitious and extemporary assaults. Many a va-
iia';( person dares fighi a battle, who yet will be
timorous and surprised in a midnight alarm, or if he
falls ii)to a river. And how many discreet persons
are there who, if vou offer them a sin, and give them
time to consider, and tell them of it before hand, will
rather die than be perjured, or tell a deliberate lie,
or break a promise ; who (it may be) tell many sud-
den lies, and excuse themselves, and break their
promises, and yet think themselves sale enough, and
sleep without either afiVightments, or any apprehen-
sion of dishonour done to their persons or their re-
ligion ? Every man is not armed for all sudden
arrests of passions. Few men have cast such fetters
upon their lusts, and have their passions in so strict
confinement, that they may not be over-run with a
midnight flood, or an unlooked for inundation. He
that does not start when he is smitten suddenly, is a
constant person. And that is it which 1 intend in
this instance ; that he is a perfect man, and well
grown in grace, ^\ho hath so habitual a resolution,
and so unhasty and weary a spirit, as that he decrees
upon no act before he hath considered maturely,
and chano-ed the sudden occasion into a sober coun-
sel. David by chance spied Bathsheba washing her-
self, and being surprised, gave his heart away be-
fore he could consider; and when it was once gone,
it was hard to recover it : and sometimes a man is
betrayed by a sudden opportunity, and all things fit-
ted for his sin ready at the door; the act stands in
all its dress, and will not stay for an answer; and
inconsideration is the defence and guard of the sin,

294 ep GROWTH iKT GRACE. Semi. XV,

and makes that his conscience can the more easy
swallovv it: what shall the man do then ? unless he
be stron-^ by his old strengths, by a great grace, by
an habitual virtue and a sober unmoved spirit, he
falls and dies the death, and hath no new strengths,
but such as are to be employed for his recovery;
none for his present guard, unless upon the old
stock, and if he be a well grown Christian.

These are the parts, acts, and oflices of our grow-
ing in grace ; and yet I have sometimes called them
signs: but they are signs, as eating and drinking are
signs of life ; they are ,signs so as also they aie pajis
of life ; and these are parts of our growth in grace,
so that a man can grow in grace to no other pur-
pose but to these or the like improvements.

Concerning which I have a caution or two to in-
terpose. 1. The growth of grace is to be estimated
as other moral things are, not according to the
growth of things natural. Grace does not grow by
obs8rva+ion, and a continual efflux, and a constant
proportion ; and a man cannot call himself to an ac-
count for the growth of every day, or week, or
month : but, in the greater portions of our life, in
which we have had many occasions and instances to
exercise and improve our virtues, we may call our-
selves to account : but it is a snare to our con-
sciences to be examined in the growth of grace in
every short revolution of solemn duty, as against
every communion, or great festival.

2. Growth in grace is not always to be discerned
either in simple instances, or in single graces. Not in
single instances : for every time we are to exercise a
virtue, we are not in the same natural dispositions,
nor do we meet with the same circumstances, and it
is not always necessary that the next act should be
more earnest and intense than the former : all single
acts are to be done after the manner of men, and

Serm. XV. op growth in grace. 295

therefore are not always capable of increasing, and
they have tlieir times beyond which they cannot
easily swell ; and therefore if it be a good act and zea-
lous, it may proceed from a well grown grace, and
yet a younger and weaker person may do some a< ts
as great and as religious as it. But neither do shii^/e
graces always afford a regular and ceitain judgnicnt
in this affair. For some persons at the fu^t had
rather die than be unchaste or perjured ; and greater
love than this no man hath, that he hiy do an his life
for God: he cannot easily grow in the snl-stance of
that act; and if other persons, or himself, in process
of time do it more cheerfully or with fewer fears, it is
not always a sign of a greater grace, but sometujies of
greater collateral assistances, or a better habit of
body, or more fortunate circumstances: for he that
goes to the block trembling for Christ, and yet en-
dures his death certainly, and endures his trembling
too, and rut]s through all his infirmities and the big-
ger temptations, looks not so well many limes in the
eyes of men, but suffers more for God, than those
confident martyrs that courted death in the primitive
churcli ; and therefore may be much dearer in the
eyes of God. But that which I say in this particu-
lar is, that a smallncss in one is not an argument of
the imperfection of the whole estate : because God
does not always give to every man occasions to ex-
ercise, and therefore not to improve, every grace;
and the passive virtues of a Christian are not to be
expected to grow so fast in prosperous, as in suifer-
injr Christians. But in this case we are to take ac-
counts of ourselves by the improvement of those
graces which God makes to happen often in our
lives ; such as are charity and temperance in young
men, liberality and religion in aged persons, inge-
nuity and humility in scholars, jiistice in merchants
smd artifice rs, forgiveness of injuries in great men

296 OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Semi. XV'i

and persons tempted by law suits : for since virtues
grow like other moral habits, by use, diligence and
assiduity, tliere wheie God hath appointed our work
and our instances, there we must consider conci;rn-
ing our growth in grace ; in other things we are but
beginners. But it is not likely that God will try
us concerning degrees hereafter, in such things of
which in this world he was sparing to give us op-
portunities.

3. Be careful to observe, that these rules are not
all to be understood neoratively, but poaitively and
afjirmatively : that is, that a man may conclude that
he is grown in grace if he observes these characters
in himself which I have here discoursed of; but he
must not conclude negatively^ that he is not grown
in grace, if he cannot observe such signal testimo-
nies : for sometimes God covers the graces of his
servants, and hides the beauty of his tabernacle with
goat's hair and the skins of beasts, that he may rath-
er suffer them to want present comfort than the
grace of humility : for it is not necessary to preserve
the gayeties and their spiritual pleasures ; but if their
humility fails, (which may easily be under the sun-
shine of conspicuous and illustrious graces) their
virtues and themselves perish in a sad declension.
But sometimes men have not skill to make a judg-
ment ; and all this discourse seems too artihcial to
be tried by, in the hearty purposes of religion.
Sometimes they let pass much of their life, even of
their better days, without observance of particulars ;
sometimes their cases of conscience are intricate, or
allayed with unavoidable intirniities ; sometimes they
are so uninstructed in the more secret parts of reli-
gion, and there are ao many illusions and accidental
miscarriages, that if we shall conclude negatively in
the present question, we may produce scruples inti-
nite, but understand nothing more of our estate, and
do much less of our duty.

Serm. XV. of growth in grace. 297

4. In considering concerning our growth in grace,
let us take more care to consider matters that con-
cern justice and charity, than that concern the virtue
of religion ; because in this there may be much., in
the other there cannot easily be any illusion and cozen-
age. That is a good religion that believes, and
trusts, and hopes in God through Jesus Christ, and
for his sake does all justice and all charity that he
can ; and our blessed Lord gives no other descrip-
tion of love to God, but obedience and keeping his com-
mandments. Justice and charity are like the matter,
religion is the form of Christianity : but although the
form be more noble and the principle of life, yet it
is less discernible, less material, and less sensible ;
and we judge concerning the form by the matter,
and by material accidents, and by actions : and so we
must of our religion, that is, of our love to God, and
of the efficacy of our prayers, and the usefulness of
our fastings ; we must make our judgments by the
more material parts of our duty, that is, by sobriety,
and by justice, and by charity.

I am much prevented in my intention for the per-
fecting of this so very material consideration: I shall
therefore only tell you, that to these parts and ac-
tions of a good life, or of our growth in grace, some
have added some accidental considerations, which
are rather signs than parts of it. Such are: 1. To
praise all good things, and to study to imitate what
we praise. 2. To be impatient that any man should
excel us; not out of envy to the person, but of no-
ble emulation to the excellence. For so Themislo-
cles could not sleep after the great victory at JJara-
thon purchased by Afiltiades, t\\\ he had made hiuiself
illustrious by equal services to his country. 3. The
bearing of sickness patiently, and ever with improve-
ment, and the addition of some excellent principle,
and the firm pursuing it. 4. Great devotion, and
much delight in our prayers, b. Frequent inspira-

VOL.H. 39

298 OF GROWTH IN GRACE. Serm. XV.

tionsand often whispers of the spirit of God prompt-
ing us to devotion and obedience ; especially if we
add to this a constant and ready obedience to all
those holy invitations. 6. Offering peace to them
that have injured me, and the abating of the circum-
stances of honour or of right, when either justice or
charity is concerned in it. 7. Love to the brethren.
8. To behold our companions, or our inieriours, full
of honour and fortune; and if we sit still at home
and murmur not, or if we can rejoice both in their
honour and our own quiet, that is a fair work of a
good man. And now. 9. After all this, I will not
trouble you with reckoning a freedom from being
tempted, not only from being overcome, but from
being tried : For though that be a rare felicity, and
hath in it much safety : yet it hath less honour, and
fewer instances of virtue, unless it proceed from a
confirmed and heroical grace; which is indeed a little
image of heaven and of a celestial charity, and never
happens signally to any, but to old and very eminent
persons. 10. But some also add an excellent habit of
body and material passions, such as are chaste and
virtuous dreams ; and suppose that as a disease abus-
es the fancy, and a vice does prejudice it, so may an
excellent virtue of the soul smooth and calcine the
body, and make it serve perfectly, and without re-
bellious indispositions. 11. Others are in love with
Man/ Magdalen's tears, and fancy the hard knees of
St. Ja7nc.s, and the sore eyes of St. Pcter^ and the very
recreations of St. John; Prohf quam virtute pruedi-
tos omnia decent! thinking all things become a good
man, even his gestures and little incin'iosities. And
thouo-h this may proceed from a great love of virtue,
yet because some men do thus much and no more, and
this is to be attributed to the lustre of virtue, which
shines a little throuf»;h a man's eye lids, though he
perversely winks against the light; yet (as the former
of these two is too metaphysical, so is the latter too

Serm. XV. op growth in gracb. 299

fantastical) be that by the foregoing material parts
and proper significations of a growing grace cioet
not understand his own condition, must be content to
work on still super totam materiam^ without conside-
rations of particulars; he must pray earnestly, and
watch diligently, and consult with prudent guides,
and ask of God great measures of his spirit, and /imw-
ger and thirst after righteousness : for he that does
so, shall certainly be sutuJiccL And if he understands
not his present good condition, yet if he be not want-
ing in the downright endeavours of piety, and in
hearty purposes, he shall then find that he is grown
in grace, when he springs up in the resurrection of the
just., and shall be ingrafted upon a tree of paradise,
which beareth I'ruit for ever, glori/ to God^ rejoicing
to saints and angels, and eternal felicity to his own
pious, though undiscerning soul.

Prima sequentem, bonestum est in secundis aut tertiis consistere.*

Cicero^

)
* He, who aims at the highest prize, is worthy of honour if he at-
tains only to the seconder the third.

SERMON XVI.

OF GROWTH IN SIN :

rtR, THE SEVERAL STATES AND DEGREES OF" SINNERS, WITH THE
MANNER HOW THEY ARE TO BE TREATED.

JuDE Epist. V. 22, 23.

Atl'^ of some have compassion, making a diflference : And others save
with fear, pulling them out of the fire.

Man hath but one entrance into the world, but a
thousand wavs to pass from thence. And as it is in
the natural, so It is in the spiritual : nothing but the
union of faith and obedience can secure our reoene-
ration, and our new birth, and can bring us to see
the light of heaven ; but there are a thousand pas-
saties of turninof into darkness. And it is not cnousfh
that our bodjes are exposed to so many sad infirmi-
ties and dishonourable imperfections, unless our soul
also be a subject capable of so many diseases, irregu-
lar passions, false principles, accursed habits and de-
grees of perverseness, that the very kinds of them
are reducible to a method, and make up the part of a
science. There are variety of stages and descents to
death ; as there are diversity of torments, and of
sad regions of misery in hell, which is the centre and

Serm. XVI. of growth ijv sin. 301

kingdom of sorrows. But that we may a little re-
fresh the sadnesses of this consideration ; for every one
of these stages of sin, God hath measured out a pro-
portion of mercy : for, if sin abounds^ grace shall
much more abound; and God halh concluded all under
sin, not with purposes to destroy us, but, ut omnium
misereatur, that he might have mercy upon all ; that
light may break forth from the deepest inclosures of
darkness, and mercy may rejoice upon the recessions
of justice, and grace may triumph upon the ruins of
sin, and God may be glorilied in the miracles of our
conversion, and the wonders of our preservation, and
glories of our being saved. There is no state of sin,
but, if we be persons capable (according to God's
method of healing) of receiving antidotes, we shall
find a sheet of mercy spread over our wounds and
nakedness. If our diseases be small, almost neces-
sary, scarce avoidable ; then God does, and so we
are commanded to cure them, and cover them with
a veil of pity, compassion, and gentle remedies : if
our evils be violent, inveterate, gangrened, and in-
corporated into our nature by evil customs, they
must be pulled from the flames of hell with censures,
and cauteries, and punishments, and sharp reme-
dies, quickly and rudely; their danger is present
and sudden, its effect is quick and intolerable, and,
there are no soft counsels then to be entertained ;
they are already in the tire, but they may be saved
for all that. So great, so infinite, so miraculous is
God's mercy, that he will not give a sinner over,
thouorJi the hairs of his head be sinofed with the
flames of hell : God's desires of having us to be sav-
ed continue, even when we begin to be damned;
even till we will not be saved, and are gone beyond
God's method, and all the revelations of his kindness.
And certainly that is a bold and a mighty sinner,
whose iniquity is swelled beyond all the bulk and
heap of God's revealed loving kindness : if sin hath

302 OP GROWTH IN sirr. Serm. XVI.

swelled beyond grace, and superabounds over it,
that sin is gone bejond the measures of a man : such
a person is removed bejond all the malice of human
nature, into the evil and spite of devils and accursed
spirits; there is no greater sadness in the world than
this. God hath not appointed a remedy in the vast
treasures of grace for some men, and some sins ; they
have sinned like the falling angels, and having over-
run the ordinary evil inclinations of their nature, they
are without the protection of the divine mercy, and
the conditions of that grace which was designed to
save all the world, and was sufficient to have saved
twenty. This is a condition to be avoided with the
care of God and his angels, and all the whole indus-
try of man. In order to which end my purpose now
is to remonstrate to you the several slates of sin and
death, together with those remedies which God
had proportioned out to them ; that we may observe
the evils of the least, and so avoid the intolerable
mischiefs of the greater, even of those sins which
still are within the power and possibilities of reco-
verv ; lest insensibly we fall into those sins and into
those circumstances of person for which Christ never
died, which the Holy Ghost never means to cure,
and which the eternal God never will pardon : for
there are of tliis kind more than commonly men im-
agine, whilst they amuse their spirits with gayeties
and false principles, till they have run into horrible
impieties, from whence they are not willing to with-
draw their fool, and God is resolved never to snatch
and force them thence.

1. Of some have compassion. And these I shall re-
duce to four heads or orders of men and actions; all
which have their proper cure proportionable to their
proper slate, gentle remedies to the lesser iriegula-
rities of the soul. 1. The first are those that sin
without observation of their particular state j either

Serm. XVI. of growth in six. 303

because they are unlnstructed in the special cases
of conscience, or because they do an evil against which
there is no express commandment. It is a sad calami-
ty, that there are so many millions of men and women
that are entered into a state of sickness and danger,
and yet are made to believe tiiey are in perfect
health ; and they do actions concerning which they
never made a question whether they were just or no,
nor were ever taught by what names to call them.
For while they obseive that modesty is sometimes
abused by a false name, and called clownishness and
want of breeding ; and contentcdness and temiperate living
is suspected to be ivant of courage 2ind noble thoughts ;
and severity of life is called imprudent and unsociable ;
and simplicity mid hearty honesty is counted foolish -dnd
unpolitick : they are easily tempted to honour prodi-
gality and foolish dissolution of their estates with the
title of liberal and noble usages ; iimorousness is called
caution^ rashness is called quickness of spirit^ covetous-
ness IS frugality^ amorousness is society and genteel, pee-
vishness and anger are courage, flattery is humane and
courteous : and under these false veils virtue slips
away, (like truth from under the hands of them that
fight for her) and leaves vice dressed up with the
same imagery, and the fraud not discovered till the
day of recorapences, when men are distinguished by
their rewards. But so men think they sleep freely
when their spirits are loaden with a lethargy, and
they call a hectick fever the vigour of a natural heat,
till nature changes those less discerned states into
the notorious imag-es of d<!adi. Very many men
never consider whether they sin or no in ten thousands
of tlK.ir actions, every one of which is very disputable,
and do not think tiiey are bound to consider : these
men are to be pitied and instructed, they are to be
calMiJ upon to use relliion like a daily diet; their
consciences must be made tender, and their catechism

304 OF GROWTH IN SIN. i:ierm. XVL

enlarged ; teach them, and raake them sensible, and
they are cured.

But the other in this place are more considerable :
men sin without observation, because their actions
hrive no restraint of an express commandment, no
letter of the law to condemn them by an express sen-
tence. And this happens, when the crime is com-
prehended under a general notion, without the in-
stancing of particulars : for if you search over all the
scripture, you siiall never lind incest named and marked
with the black character of death; and there are
divers sorts of uncleanness to which scripture there-
fore gives no name, because she would have them
have no being. And ii had been necessary that God
should have described all particulars, and all kinds,
if he had not given reason to man : for so it is fit that
a guide should point out every turning, if he be to
teach a child or a fool to return unto his father's roof.
But he that bids us avoid intemperance for fear of a
fever, supposes you to be sutiiciently Instructed that
you may avoid the plague; and, when to look upon
a woman with liist is condemned, it will not be ne-
cessary to add. You must not do more, when even
the least is forbidden : and when to uncover the na-
kedness of jYoah brought an universal plague upon
the posterity of Cham, it was not necessary that the
law-giver should say, You must not ascend to your
father's bed, ordiaw the curtains from your sister's
retirements. When the Athenians forbade to trans-
port figs fiom Athens, there was no need to name the
gardens of Alcibiades ; much less was it necessary
to add, that Chabrias should send no plants to Spar-
ta. Whatsoever is coni|)rlsed under the general
notion, and partakes of the common nature, and the
same iniquity, needs no special prohibition ; unless
we think we can mock God, and elude his holy pre-
cepts with an absurd trick of mistaken logick. I

Serm. XVL of growth in sir^. 305

am sure that will not save us harmless fiom a thun-
derbolt.

2. Men sin without an express prohibition, when
they commit a thing that is like a forbidden evil.
And when St. Paul had reckoned many works of the
flesh, he adds and such like, all that have the same
unreasonableness and carnality. For thus polygamy
is unlawful : for if it be not lawful for a Christian
to put away his icife and marry another, (unless ibr
adultery,) much less may he keep a first and take
a second, when the first is not put away : if a Chris-
tian may not be drunk with wine, neither may he
be drunk with passion: if he may not kill his neigh-
bour, neither then must he tempt him to sin, for that
destroys him more ; if he may not wound him, then
he may not persuade him to intemperance, and a
drunken fever; if it be not lavvlul to cozen a man,
much less is it permitted that he make a man a fool,
and a beast, and exposed to every man's abuse, and
to all ready evils. And yet men are taught to start
at the one half of these, and make no conscience of
the other half; whereof some have a greater base-
ness than the other that are named, and all have the
same unreasonableness.

,'i. A man is guilty, even when no law names his
action, if he does any thing that is a cause or an ef-
fect, a part or unhandsome adjunct of a forbidden
instance. He that forbade all intemperance, is as
much displeased with the infinite of foolish talk that
happens at such meetings, as he is at the spoiling of
the drink, and the destroying the health. If God
cannot endure wantonness, how can he suffer lasci-
vious dressings, tempting circumstances, wanton
eyes, high diet ^ If Idleness be a sin, then all inmio-
derate mis-spending of our time, all long and tedious
games, all absurd contrivances how to tiirow away
a precious hour, and a day of saloaiion also, are

TOL. u. 40

306 ov GuowTu IS isiN. Serm. XVI.

against God, ancl ai^ainst religion. He that is com-
manded to be (haritable, it is also intended he should
not spend liis money vainly, but be a good husband
and provident, that he may be able to give to the
poor, as he would be to purchase a lordship, or pay
his daughter's portion. And upon this stock it is,
that the Christian religion forbids jeering and mimode-
late laughter, and reckons jesliugs among the things
that are unseemly. This also would be considered.

4. B(isides the express laws of our religion, there
is an universal line and limit to our passions and de-
signs, which is called the analo<yy of Christianity ; that
is, the proportion of its sanctity, and the strictness of
its holy precepts. This is not forbidden ; but, does
+his become you ? Is it decent to see a Christian live
in plenty and case, and heap up money, and never to
partake of Christ's passions ? There is no law against
a jud^e being a dresser of gardens, or a gatherer of
sycamore fruits; but it becomes him not, and deserves
a reproof If 1 do exact justice to my neighbour, and
cause him to be punished legally for all the evils he
makes me sufier, I have not broken a fragment from
the stony tables of the law: but this is against the
analogy of our rclii^ion ; it does not become a disciple
of so gentle a master to take all advantages that he
can. Christ, that quitted all the gloiies that were
essential to him, and that grew up in his nature when
he lodged in his Father's bosom; Christ, thatsuilered
all the evils due for the sins of mankind, himself re-
maining most innocent ; Clirist, that promised perse-
cution, Injuries and atfronts as part of our present
portion, and gave them to his disciples as a legacy,
and gave us his spirit to enable us to sulfer injuries,
and made that the parts or suffering evils should be
the matter of three or four Christian graces of pa-
tience, of fortitude, of longanimity^ aiid perseverance ;
he that of ciiiht beatitudes made that five ol them

Sei'tn. XVI. OF growth in sik. 307

should be instanced in the matter of hunilliatlon and
suirering temporal inconvenience ; that blessed JMaster
was cerlainly desirous that his disciples siiould take
their crowns from tiie cioss, not from the evenness
and felicities of the world ; he intended we should
e;ive something, and sutler more things, and torgive
all things, all injuries whatsoever. And though
together with this may consist our securing a just
interest ; yet in very many circumstances w^e shall be
put to consider how far it becomes us to quit some-
thing of that, to pursue peace ; and when we have
secured the letter of the law, that we also look to its
analogy ; when we do what we are strictly bound to,
then also we must consider Avhat becomes us, who
are disciples of such a master, who are instructed
with such principles, charmed with so severe pre-
cepts, and invited with the certainty of iniinite re-
wards. Now although tliis discourse may seem new
and strange, and very severe, yet it is infinitely rea-
sonable, because Christianity is a law of love and vo-
luntary services ; it can in no sense be conlined with
laws and strict measures : well may the ocean re-
ceive its limits, and the whole capacity of fire be glut-
ted, and the grave have his belly so full that it shall
cast up all its bowels, and disgorge the continued
meal of so many thousand years ; but love can never
have a limit; and it is indeed to be swalloived np^ hut
nothing can Jill it but God, who hath no bound.
Christianity is a law for sons, not for servants ; and
God, that gives his i>;race without measure^ and re-
w^ards without end, and acts of favour beyond our
askings, and provides tor us beyond our needs, and
gives us counsels beyond commandments, intends not
to be limited out by the just evennesses and stiicken
measures of the words of a commandment. Give to
God full measure, shaken too-cthe)\ pressed doivn, heap-
ed up, and running over ; for God does so to us ; and

308 OP GROWTH IN siK. Serm. XF/.

when we have done so to him, we are infinitely short
of the least measure of what God does for us ', we
are still unprofitable servants. And, therefore, as the
breaking any of the laws of Christianity provokes
God to anger, so the prevaricating in the analogy of
Christianity stirs him up to jealousy. He hath rea-
son to suspect our hearts are not right with him,
when we are so reserved in the matter and measures
of our services: and if we will give God but just
what he calls for by express mandate, it is just in
him to require all of that at our hands without any
abatement, and then we are sure to miscarry.
And let us remember, that when God said he was a
jealous God., he expressed the meaning of it to be, he
did punish to the third and fourth generation. Jealousy
is like the rage of a man : but If It be also like the
anger of God, it is Insupportable, and will crush us
Into the ruins of our grave.

But because these things are not frequently con-
sidered, there are very many sins committed against
rello-ion, which because the commandment hath not
marked, men refuse to mark, and think Godrequn'es
no more. I am entered Into a sea of matter, which I
must not now prosecute ; but I shall only note this
to you, that it Is but reasonable we should take ac-
counts of our lives by /^e/>ropor//ow5 as well as by the
express rules of our religion, because In humane and
civil actions all the nations of the world use to call
their subjects to account. For that which in the ac-
counts of men Is called reputation and publick honesty^
Is the same which In religion we call analogy and pro-
portion ; In both cases there being some things which
are besides the notices of laws, and yet are the most
certain consignations of an excellent virtue. He is
a base person that does any thing nga'mst pudlick
honesty ; and yet no man can be punished, if he marries
a wife the next day after his first wife's funeral : and

Serm. XVI. op growth in sin. 809

so he that prevaricates the proportions and excellent
reasons of Christianity, is a person without zeal and
without love ; and unless care be taken of him, he will
quickly be without religion. But yet these, I say, are
a sort of persons which are to be used with gentle-
ness, and treated with compassion : for no man must
be handled roughly to force him to do a kindness ;
and coercion of laws and severity of judges, ser-
geants, and executioners are against oftenders of com-
mandments ; but the way to cure such persons is the
easiest and gentlest remedy of all others. They are
to be instructed in all the parts of duty, and invited
forward by the consideration of the great rewards
which are laid up for all the sons of God, Avho serve
him without constraint, without measures and allays,
even as fire burns, and as the roses grow, even as much
as they can, and to all the extent of their natural and
artificial capacities. For it is a thing fit for our com-
passion, to see men fettered in the iron bands oflaics^
and yet to break the golden chains of love ; but all
those instruments which are proper to enkindle the
love of God, and to turn fear into charity, are the
proper instances of that compassion which is to be
used towards these men.

2. The next sort of those who are in the state of
sin, and yet to be handled gently and with compas-
sion^ are those who entertain themselves with the be-
ginnings and little entrances of sin : which as they
are to be more pitied because they often come by
reason of inadvertency, and an unavoidable weak-
ness in many degrees ; so they are more to be taken
care of, because they are undervalued and undis-
cernibly run into inconvenience. When avc see a
child strike a servant rudely, or jeer a silly person,
or wittingly cheat his play-fellow, or talk words light
as the skirt of a sumn»er garment; we laugh and are
delighted with the wit and conlidence of the boy, and

310 OF GROWTH irr sifr. ^'enw. XVL

encourage such hopeful beginnings : and In the mean
time we consider not that from these beginnings he
shall grow up till he become a tyrant, an oppressor,
a goat, and a traitor. JVemo simul mains jit^ et malus
esse cernitnr ; simit nee scorpiis turn mnascuntur stimuli
cum pungimt : No man is discerned to be vicious so
soon as he is so, and vices have their infancy and
their childhood ; and it cannot be expected that in a
child's age should be the vice of a man ; that were
monstrous, as if he wore a beard in his cradle ; and
we do not believe that a serpent's sting does just then
grow when he strikes us in a vital part ; the venom
and the little spear was there, when it first began to
creep from his little shell. And little boldnesses and
looser words, and wranglings for nuts, and lying for
trifles, are of the same proportion to the malice of a
child; as impudence, and duels, and injurious law-
suits, and false witness in judgment, and perjuries
are In men. And the case is the same when men
enter upon a new stock of any sin : the vice is at
first apt to be put out of countenance, and a little thing
discourages it, and it amuses the spirit with words,
and fantastick images, and cheap instances of sin ; and
men think themselves safe, because they are as yet
safe from laws, and the sin does not as yet out-cry the
healthful noise of Christ's loud cryings and interces-
sion with his Father, nor call for thunder or an
amazing judgment ; but according to the old saying,
The thorns of Dauphine will never fetch bloody if they
do not scratch the first day ; and we shall find that the
little indecencies and riflings of our souls, the first
openings and disparkings of our virtue differ only
from the state of perdition, as infancy does from old
age, as sickness from death ; it is the entrance
into those regions, whither whosoever passes finally,
shall lie down and groan with an eternal sorrow.
Now in this case it may happen that a compassion

Serm. XVI. op growth iff sin. 311

may ruin a man, If it be the pity of an indiscreet
mother, and nurse the sin from its weakness to the
strength of habit and Impudence : the compassion
that is to be used to such persons is the compassion
of a physician or a severe tutor : chastise thy infant
sin by disclphne, and acts of virtue : and never be-
gin that way from whence you must return with
some trouble and much shame, or else, if you pro-
ceed, you finish your eternal ruin.

He that means to be temperate, and avoid the
crime and dishonour of being a drunkard, must not
love to partake of the songs, or to bear a part in the
foolish scenes of laughter, which distract wisdom,
and fright her from the company. And Lavina, that
was chaster than the elder Sabines, and severer than
her philosophical guardian, was well instructed in
the great lines of honour and cold justice to her hus-
band : but when she gave way to the wanton oint-
ments and looser circumstances of the Baiae, and
bathed often in Jivernus, and from thence hurried to
the companies and dressings o{ Lncrinus^ she quench-
ed her honour, and gave her virtue and her body
as a spoil to the follies and intemperance of a young
gentleman. For so have I seen the little purls of a
spring sweat through the bottom of a bank, and in-
tenerate the stubborn pavement, till it hath made it
fit for the impression of a child's foot; and it was
despised, like the descending pearls of a misty morn-
ing, till it had opened its way, and made a stream
large enoug"!! to carry away the ruins of the under-
mined strand, and to invade the neighbouring gar-
dens : but then the despised drops were grown into
an artificial river, and an intolerable niischief. So are
the first entrances of sin, stopped with the antidotes
of a hearty prayer, and checked into sobriety by
the eye of a reverei.d man, or the counsels of a
single sermon : but when such beginnings are ne-

312 OF GROWTH IX SIN Scrm. XVI.

glected, and our religion hath not In it so much philo-
sophy, as to think any thing evil as long as we can
endure it, they grow up to ulcers and pestilential
evils ; they destroy the soul by their abode, who at
their first entry might have been killed with the
pressure of a little linger.

Those men are in a condition, in which they may,
if they please, pity themselves ; keep their green
wound from festering and uncleanness, and it will
heal alone: JVon procul absunt, they are not far from
the kingdom of heaven^ but they are not within its por-
tion. And let me say this, that although little sins
have not yet made our condition desperate, but left
it easily recoverable; yet it is a condition that is
quite out of God's favour : although they are not
far advanced in their progress to ruin, yet they are
not at all in a state of grace : and therefore though
they are to be pitied and relieved accordingly; yet
that supposes the incumbency of a present misery.

3. There are some very much to be pitied and
assisted because they are going into hell, and (as
matters stand with them) they cannot, or they think
they cannot avoid it. Qiiidam ad aliemim dormiunt
soninum^ ad aliemun edunt appetitum : amare et odisse
{res omnium maxime liberas) jubentur : There are
some persons whose hfe is so wholly in dependence
from others, that they sleep when others please, they
eat and drink according to their master's appetite or
intemperance ; they are commanded to love or hate,
and are not left (ree in the \ery charter and privi-
leges of natui'e. Miscrum est, servtresvb dominis parum
felicibus. For suppose the prince or the patron be
vicious, suppose he calls his servants to bathe their

* The cure is easy if applied in time. A.

(Serm. XVI. op growth in sin. 4113

souls In the goblets of intemperance ; if he be also
imperious, (for such persons love not to be contra-
dicted in their vices) it is the loss of that man's for-
tune not to lose his soul : and it is the servant's ex-
cuse, and he esteems it also his glory, that he can tell
a merry tale, how his master and himself did swim
in drink, till they both talked like fools, and then did
lie down like beasts. — Facinus quos inqmnat^ aeguat :
there is then no difference, but that the one is the fair-
est bull, and the master of the herd. And how many
tenants and relatives are known to have a servile con-
science, and to know no affirmation or negation but
such as shall serve their landlord's interest ? Alas !
the poor men live by it, and they must beg their
bread if ever they turn recreant, or shall offer to be
honest. There are some trades whose very founda-
tion is laid in the vice of others ; and in many others,
if a thread of deceit do not quite run through all
their negociations, they decay into the sorrows of
beggary : and therefore they will support their neigh-
bour's vice, that he may support their trade. And
what would you advise those men to do, to whom a
false oath is offered to their lips, and a dagger at
their heart ? Their reason is surprised, and their
choice is seized upon, and all their consultation is
arrested; and if they did not prepare before-hand,
and stand armed with religion and perfect resohi-
tion, would not any man fall, and think that every
good man will say his case is pitiable.'^ although no
temptation is bigger than the grace of God, }et
many temptations are greater than our strengths :
and we do not live at the rate of a mighty and a
victorious grace.

Those persons which cause these vicious necessities
upon their brethren will lie low in hell ; but the oth-
ers will have but small comfort in feeling a legg«r
flamnation.

TOL. n. 41

314 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Semt. XVL

Of the same consideration it is, when ignorant
people are catechised into false doctrine, and know
nothing but such principles which weaken the nerves,
and enfeeble the joints of holy living; they never
heard of any-other : those that follow great and evil
examples ; the people that are engaged in the
publick sins of a kingdom which they understand
not, and either must venture to be undone upon the
strength of their own little reasonings and weak dis-
coursings, or else must go qua ilur^ non qua eumlitm est^
there where the popular misery hath made the way
plain before their eyes, though it be uneven and
dangerous to their consciences. In tiiese cases I am
foiced to reckon a catalogue of misciiiefs ; but it will
be hard to cure any of them, ^ristippus in his dis-
courses was a great flatterer oi Dionysius of Sicily,
and did own doctrines which might give an easiness
to some vices, and knew not how to contradict the
pleasures of his prince ; but seemed like a person
disposed to partake of them, that the example of a
philosopher and the practice of a king might do
countenance to a shameful life. But when Dionysius
sent him two women slaves, fair and young, he sent
them back, and shamed the easiness of his doctrine
by the severity of his manners ; he daring to be
virtuous when he was alone, though in the presence
of him whom he thought it necessary to flatter, he
had no boldness to own the virtue. So it is with
too many: it they be left alone, and that they stand
unshaken with the eye of their tempter, or the
authority of their lord, they go whither their educa-
tion or their custom carries them; but it is not in
some natures to deny the face of a man, and the
boldness of a sinner; and, which is yet worse, it is
not in most men's interest to do it. These men are
in a pitiable condition, and are to be helped by the
following rules.

Serm. XVI, of growth in six. ^15

1. Let every man consider that he hath two re-
latians to serve, and he stands between God and his
master, and his nearest relative : and in such cases it
comes to be disputed whether interest be preferred,
■whicli of the persons is to be displeased, God or my
master, God or my prince, God or my friend, if
■\ve be servants of the man ; remember also that I
am a servant of God : add to this, that if my present
service to the man be a slavery in me, and a tyranny
in him, yet God's service is a noble freedom. And
j^pollonms said well. It was for slaves to lie, and
for freemen to speak the truth. If you be freed by
the blood of the Son of God, then you are free indeed:
and then consider how dishonourable it is to lie, to
the displeasure of God, and only to please your fel-
low servant. The difference here is so great, that
it mi^ht be sufficient only to consider the antithesis.
Did the man make you what you are ? Did he pay
his blood for you, to save you from death ? Does
he keep you from sickness ? True : you eat at his
table ; but they are of God's provisions that he and
you feed of. Can your master free you from a fever,
■when you have drunk yourself into it ? and restore
your innocence; when you have forsworn yourself
for his interest.^ Is the change reasonable? He
gives you meat and drink for which you do him ser-
vice: but is not he a tyrant, and an usurper, an op-
pressor, and an extortioner, if he will force thee to
give thy soul for him, to sell thy soul for old shoes
and broken bread ? But when thou art to make thy
accounts of eternity, will it be taken for an answer,
My patron or my governour, my prince or my mas-
ter, forced me to it? or, if it will not, will he under-
take a portion of thy flames ? or, if that may not be>
will it be in the midst of all thy torments any ease
to thv sorrows, to remember all the rewards and
cloaths, all the money and civilities, all the cheerful

816 OP GROWTH IN SIN. Sevm. XVI.

looks and familiarity and fellowship of vices, which
in your life-time made your spirit so gay and easy ?
It will in the eternal loads of sorrow add adupHcate
of groans and indignation, when it shall be remem-
bered for how base and trifling an interest, and
upon what weak principles, we fell sick and died
eternally.

2. The next advice to persons thus tempted is,
that they would learn to separate duty from mistaken
interest, and let them be both served in their just
proportions, when we have learned to make a dif-
ference. A wife is bound to her husband in all his
just designs, and in all noble usages and Christian
comportments: but a wife is no more bound to pur-^
sue her husband's vicious hatreds, than to serve and
promote his unlawful and wandering loves. It is
not always a part of duty to think the same proposi-
tions, or to curse the same persons, or to wish him
success in unjust designs : and yet the sadness of it
is, that a good woman is easily tempted to believe
the cause to be just ; and when her affection hath
forced her judgment, her judgment for ever after
shall carry the affection to all its erring and abused
determinations. A friend is turned a flatterer, if he
does not know that the limits of friendship extend no
farther than the pale and inclosures of reason and
religion. No master puts it into his covenant that
his servant shall be drunk with him, or give in evi-
dence in his master's cause according to his master's
scrolls : and therefore it is besides and against the
duty of a servant to sin by that authority ; it is as if
he should set mules to keep his sheep, or make his
dogs to carry burthens, it is besides their nature and
design. And if any person falls under so tyrannical
relation, let him consider how hard a master he
serves, where the devil gives the employment, and
shame is his entertainment, ?ind sin is his work, and

Serm. XVI. op growth iw siw. 317

hell is his wages. Take therefore the counsel of the
son of Sirac ; Accept no person against thy soul, and
let not the reverence of any man cause thee to fall.*

3. When passion mingles with duty, and is a ne-
cessary instrument of serving God, let not passion
run its own course, and pass on to liberty, and thence
to licence and dissolution; but let no more of it be
entertained than will just do the work. For no zeal
of duty will warrant a violent passion to prevaricate
a duty. I have seen some officers of war, in passion
and zeal of their duty, have made no scruple to com-
mand a soldier with a dialect of cursing and accents
of swearing, and pretended they could not else speak
words effective enough, and of sufficient authority:
and a man may easily be overtaken in the issues of
his government, while his authority serves itself with
passion ; if he be not curious in his measures, his
passion also will serve itself upon the authority, and
over-rule the ruler.

4. Let every such tempted person remember, that
all evil comes from ourselves, and not from others ;
and therefore all pretences and prejudices, all com-
mands and temptations, all opinions and necessities
are but instances of our weakness, and arguments of
our folly : for, unless we listed, no man can make
us drink beyond our measures; and if I tell a lie for
my master's or my friend's advantage, it is because
I prefer a little end of money or flattery before my ho-
nour and my innocence. They are huge follies which
go up and down in the mouths and heads of men.
He that knows not how to dissemble, knows not hoiv to
reign : He that will not do as his company does, must
go out of the world, and quit all society of men. We
create necessities of our own, and then think we
have reason to serve their importunity. JYon ego

'■ Eccles, iv. 22.

318 OP GROWTH IN sirr. Serm, XVL

sum amhitiosus^ sed nemo aliter Romae potest vivere; non
ego siimptuosus, sed urbs ipsa magnas impensas exigit.
jVon est meum vitimn quod iracundus sum^ quod non-
dum constitui cerium vitae genus ; adolescentia haecfacit.
The place we live in makes us expensive, the state
of life I have chosen renders me ambitious, my age
makes me angry or lustful, proud or peevish. These
are nothing else but resolutions never to mend as
long as we can have excuses for our follies, and until
we can cozen ourselves no more. There is no such
thing as a necessity for a prince to dissemble, or for
a servant to lie, or for a friend to flatter, for a civil
person and a sociable to be drunk : we cozen our-
selves with thinking the fault is so much derivative
from others, till the smart and the shame fall upon
ourselves, and cover our heads with sorrow. And
unless this gap be stopped, and that we build our
duty upon our own bottoms, as supported with the
grace of God, there is no vice but may find a patron ;
and no age, or relation, or state of life, but will be
an engagement to sin ; and we shall think it neces-
sary to be lustful in our youth, and revengeful in our
manhood, and covetous in our old age: and we shall
perceive that every state of men, and every trade
and profession, lives upon the vices of others, or upon
their miseries ; and therefore they will think it ne-
cessary to promote, or to wish it. If men were
temperate, physicians would be poor: and unless
some princes were ambitious, or others injurious,
there would be no employment for soldiers. The
vintner's retail suppoits the merchant's trade, and it
is a vice that supports the vintner's retail: and if all
men were wise and sober persons, we should have
fewer begijars, and fewer rich. And if our lawgivers
sliould imitate Demades of Jlthens^ who condemned
a man that lived by selling things belonging to fune-
rals, as supposing he could not choose but wish the

Serm. XVll. of growth in sin*. 319

death of men, by whose dying he got his living; we
siiould find most men accounted criminals, because
vice is so involved in the affairs of the world, that it
is made the support of many trades, and the busi-
ness of great multitudes of men. Certainly from
hence it is that iniquity does so much abound : and
unless we state our questions right, and perceive the
evil to be designed only from ourselves, and that no
such pretence shall keep off the j unishment or the
shame from ourselves, we shall fall into a state which
is only capable of compassion, because it is irreco-
verable: and then we shall be infinitely miserable,
when we can only receive an useless and ineffective
pity. Whatsoever is necessary cannot be avoided:
He therefore that shall say, he cannot avoid his sin,
is out of the mercies of this text : they who are ap-
pointed guides and physicians of souls cannot to any
purpose do their offices of pity. It is necessary that
we serve God, and do our duty, and fecure the inter-
est of our souls, aijd be as careful to preserve our re-
lations to God, as to our friend or prince. But if it
can be necessary for any man in any condition to sin,
it is also necessary for that man to perish.

SERMON XVII.

P4RT n.

4. The last sort of them that sin, and yet are t©
be treated with compassion, is of them that inter-
rupt the course of an honest life with single acts of
«in, stepping aside and starting like a broken bow :

320 OP GROWTH IN SIN. tSevm. XVIL

whose resolution stands fair, and their hearts are
towards God and they sojourn in reh'^ion, or rather
dwell there ; but that like evil husbands they go
abroad, and enter into places of dishonour and un-
thriftiness. Such as these all stories remember with
a sad character: and every narrative concerning
David which would end in honour and fair report, is
sullied with the remembrances of Bathsheba ; and
the Holy Ghost hath called him a man after God''s
own hearty save in the matter of Uriah : there indeed
he was a man after his own heart ; even then when
his reason was stolen from him by passion, and his
religion was sullied by the beauties of a fair woman.
I wish we lived in an age in which the people were
to be treated with concerning renouncing the single
actions of sin, and the seldom interruptions of piety.
Men are taught to say, that every man sins in every
action he does ; and this is one of the doctrines for
the believing of which he shall be accounted a good
man : and upon this ground it is easy for men to al-
low themselves some sins, when in all cases and in
every action it is unavoidable. I shall say nothing
of the question, save that the scriptures reckon oth-
erwise ; and in the account of David''s life reckon but
one great sin, and in Zachariah and Elizabeth give
a testimony of an unblameable conversation; and
Hezekiah did not make his confession when he pray-
ed to God in his sickness, and said he had walked up-
rightly before God : and therefore St. Paul, after his
conversion, designed and laboured hard, and there-
fore certainly with hopes to accomplish it, that he
might keep his conscience void of offence^ both towards
God and towards man ; and one of Christ's great pur-
poses is, to present his whole church pure atid spotless
to the throne of irrace ; and St. John the Baptist of-
fended none but Herod; and no pious Christian

Sertn. XVIL of growth in sin. 821

brouglit a bill of accusation against the Holy Virgin
Mother. Certain it is, that God hath given us pre-
cepts of such a hoHness and such a purity, such a
meekness and such humihty, as hath no pattern but
Christ, no precedent but the purities of God : and
therefore it is intended we should live with a life
"whose actions are not checkered with white and.
black, lialf sin and half virtue. God's sheep are not
like Jacohh flock, streaked and spotted ; it is an entire
Iioliness that God requires, and will not endure to
have a holy course interrupted by the dishonour of
a base and ignoble action. I do not mean that a
man's life can be as pure as the sun, or the rays of
celestial Jerusalem ; but like the moon, in which
there are spots, but they are no deformity ; a les-
sening only and an abatement of light, no cloud to
hinder and draw a veil before its face, but some-
times it is not so serene and bright as at other times.
Every man hath his indiscretions and infirmities, his
arrests and sudden incursions, his neighbourhoods
and semblances of sin, his little- violttnces to reason,
and peevish melancholy, and humorous fantastick
discourses ; unaptness to a devout prayer, his fond-
ness to judge lavcurably in his own cases, little de-
ceptions, and voluntary and involuntary cozenages,
ignorances and inadvertencies, careless hours and
unwatchful seasons. But no good man can ever
commit one act ot adultery; no godly man will at
anytime be drunk; or if he be, he ceases to be a godly
man, and is run into the confines of death, and is sick at
heart, and may die of the sickness, die eternally. This
happens more fiequently in persons of an infant piety,
"when the virtue is not corroborated by a long abode,
and a confirmed resolution, and an usual victory, and
a triumphEyit grace : and the longer we are accus-
tomed to piety, the more unfrequent will be the lit-
tle breaches of folly, and a returning to sin. But as
VOL. II. 42

322 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Serm. XVIL

the needle of a compass, when it is directed to its
beloved star, at the first addresses waves on either
side, and seems inditferent in his courtship of the
rising- or dechnmg sun, and when it seems tiist deter-
mined to tlie north, stands a while trembling, as if
it sulFered inconvenience in the first fruition of its de-
sires, and stands not still in full enjoyment till after
first a great variety of motion, and then in an imdis-
lurbed posture : so is the piety, and so is the conver-
sion of a man, wrought by degrees and several steps
of imperfection : and at iirst our choices are waver-
ing, convinced by the grace of God, and yet not per-
suaded ; and then persuaded, but not resolved ; and
then resolved, but deferring to begin : and then be-
ginning, but (as all beginnings are) in weaktiess and
uncertainty : and we fly out often into huge indiscre-
tions and look back to »SWom, and long to return to
Egypt : and when the storm is quite over, we find
little bubblings and unevennesses upon the face of the
waters, we often weaken our own purposes by the
returns of sin; and we do not call ourselves conque-
rors^ till by the long possession of virtues, it is a strange
and unusual, and therefore an uneasy and unpleas-
ant thing, to act a crime. When Polcmon of Athens^
by chance coming into the schools of Xenocraies, was
reformed upon the hearing of that one lecture, some
Avise men gave this censure of him ; Perfgrinatus est
Jmjus animus in negiiitia, non habiiavit, His mind wan-
dered in wickedness, and travelled in it, but never
dwelt there. The same is the case of some men;
they make inroads into the enemy's country, not like
enemies to spoil, but like Dinah, to be satisfied with
the stranger beauties of the land, till their virtues are
deflowered, and they enter into tragedies, and are
possessed by death and intolerable sorr(WS. But be-
cause this is like the fate of Jacob''s daughter, and
happens not by design, but folly, not by malice, but

Serm. XVII. of growth in sin. 323

surprise, not by the strength of will, but by the
weakness of grace, and yet carries a man to the
same place whither a great vice usually docs; it is
hugely pitiable, and the persons arc to be treated
with compassion, and to be assisted by the following
considerations and exercises.

First, let us consider, that for a good man to be
overtaken in a sinij:le crime is the orieatest dishonour
and unthriftness in the whole world. jJs afiy in a
box of ointment., so is a little follij to him who is ac-
counted wise., hdAcl the Son of Sirack. No man chides
a fool for his weakness, or scorns a child for playing
with flies, and preferring the present appetite be-
fore all the possibilities of to-morrow's event: but
men wondered when they saw Socrates ride upon a
cane : and when Solomon laid his wisdom at the
foot of P^iaraoJi's daughter, and changed his glory
for the interest of wanton sleep, he became the dis-
course of heaven and earth : and men think them-
selves abused, and their expectation cozened, when
they see a wise man do the actions of a fool, and a
good man seized upon by the dishonours of a crime.
But the loss of his reputation is the least of his evil.
It is the greatest improvidence in the worlds to let a
healthful constitution be destroyed in the surfeit of
one night. For although when a man, by the grace
of God and a long endeavour, hath obtained the habit
of Christian graces, evcvy single sin does not s[)oii
the habit of virtue, because that cannot be lost but
as it was gotten, that is, by parts and succession ;
yet every crime interrupts the acceptation of the grace,
and makes the man to enter into the state of enmity
and displeasure with God. The habit is only lessen-
ed natinallij., but the value of it is wholly taken away.
And in this sense is that of Josephus, to >«? s^< f^tx.gwK*i
■'iyctmiV!t^*yofAiii/ tyoiuviiy.'jv HTi,* wliich St. Jcimcs Well rcndcrs^

*Cliap. ii. 10.

324 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Serm. XVIl.

He that keeps the whole iaw^ and offends in one pointy
is guilUj of cdl ; that is, if he prevaricates in any com-
mandment, the transgression of which by the law
was capital, he shall as certainly die as if he broke
the whole law. And the same is the case of those
single actions which the school calls deadly sins, that
is, actions of choice in any sin that hath a name;
and makes a kind, and hath a distinct matter. And
sins once pardoned return again to all the purposes
of mischief, if we by a new sin forfeit God's former
loving-kindness. When the righteous man turneth
from his righteousness, and covimilteth iniqidty, all his
righteousness that he hath done, shall not he remember-
ed: in the trespass that he hath trespassed, and in the
sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die* Now
then consider, how great a fool he is, who, when he
hath with much labour and by suffering violence con-
tradicted his first desires ; when his spirit hath been
in agony and care, and with much uneasiness hath
denied to please the lower man ; when with many
prayers, and groans, and innumerabie sighs, and
strong cryings to God, with sharp sufferances and
a long severity, he hath obtained of God to begin
his pardon and restitution, and that he is in some
hopes to return to God's favour, and that he shall
become an heir of heaven ; when some of his ama-
zing fears and distracting cares begin to be taken off;
when he besrins to think that now it is not certain he
shall perish in a sad eternity, but he hopes to be
saved, and he considers how excellent a condition
that is ; he hopes when he dies to go to God, and that
he shall never enter into the possession of devils;
and this state, which is but the twilight of a glorious
felicity, he hath obtained with great labour, and
much care, and infinite danger : that this man should
throw all this structure down, and then when he is
ready to reap the fruits of his labours, by one indis-

*Ezek.xviii. 24.

Serm. XVII. OF growth in siv. 325

creet action to set fire upon his corn-fields, and de-
stroy all his (l('ar earned hopes, for the madness and
loose wanderinofs of an hour : this man is an indis-
creet gamester, who doubles his stake as he thrives,
and at one throw is dispossessed of all the pros-
perities of a lucky hand.

They that are poor (as Plutarch observes) are
careless of little things, because by saving therri they
think no great moment can accrue to their estates,
and they, despairing to be rich, think such "frugality
impertinent : but they that feel their banks swell,
and are within the possibilities of wealth, think it
useful if they reserve the smaller minutes of expense,
knowing that every thing will add to their heap.
But then, after long sparing, in one night to throw
away the wealth of a long purchase, is an impru-
dence becoming none but such persons who are to
be kept under tutors and guardians, and such as are
to be chastised by their servants, and to be punished
by them whom they clothe and feed.

These men sow much, and gather little ; stay long,
and return empty ; and after a long voyage they are
dashed in pieces, when their vessels are laden with
the spoils of provinces. Every deadly sin destroys
the rewards of a seven years' piety. I add to this,
that God is more impatient at a sin committed by
his servants, than at many by persons that are his
enemies ; and an uncivil answer from a son to a
father, from an obliged person to a benefactor, is a

* Horn. II.
To linger here, or to return with nought !
Our martial glory withers at the thought.

326 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Scrm. XVIL

greater indecency, than if any enemy should storm
his house ; or revile him to his head. Jlugustns
Caesar taxed all the world, and God tcok no pubiick
notice of it ; but when David taxed and numbered
a petty province, it was not to be expiated without
a plague: because such persons, besides the direct
sin, add the circumstance of ingratitude to God who
hath redeemed them Jrom their vain conversation, and
from death, and from hell, and consigned them to the
inheritance of sons, and given them his grace and his
spirit, and many periods of comfort, and a certain
hope, and visible earnests of immortality. Nothing
is baser, than that such a person, against his reason,
against his interest, against his God, against so many
obligations, against his custom, against his very ha-
bits and acquired inclinations, should do an action,

Qiiam nisi seductis nequeas committere Divis,*

"which a man must for ever be ashamed of, and, like
Adam, must run from God himself to do it, and de-
part from the state in which he had placed all his
hopes, and to which he had designed all his labours.
The consideration is effective enough, if we sum up
the particulars; for he that hath lived well, and
then falls into a deliberate sin, is iniinitely dishon-
oured, is most imprudent, most unsafe, and most un*
thankful. • '

2. Let persons tempted to the single instances of
sin in the midst of a laudable life, be very careful that
they suffer not themselves to be diawn aside by
the eminency of great examples. For some think

* Pers : Sat. II. v. 4.

With splendid gifts you ne'er will seek the shrine,
To tempt the power you worship as divine.

BRUMMOKD.

^erm. XVII. of growth in sinr* S2t

drunkenness liath a little honesty derived unto it by
the example oC JVoah ; and adultery is not so scan-
dalous and intolerably dishonourable, since Bath-
skeba bathed, and David was delilcd ; and men think
a ilight is no cowardice, if a general turns his head
and runs.

PorupeJo fugiente timeiit.

Well might all the gowned Romans fear., ivhert
Poriipcif jled. And who is there that can hope to be
more righteous than David, or stronger than Samp"
$o?i, or have less hypocrisy than St. Pelcr, or be more
temperate than JSua/i ? These great examples bear
men of weak discourses and weaker resolutions from
the severity of virtues. But, as Diagoras, to them
that shewed to him the votive garments of those that
had escaped shipwreck upon their prayers and vows
to JVeptune, answered, that they kept no account of
those that prayed and vowed, and yet were drown-
ed : so do these men keep catalogues of those few
persons, who broke the thread of a fair life in sunder
with the violence of a great crime, and by the grace
of God recovered, and repented, and lived; but they
consider not concernina: those infinite numbers of
men who died in their first fit of sickness, who after
a fair voyage have thrown themselves overboaid, and
perished in a sudden wildness ; one said well, Si quid
Socrates aut ^iristippus contra morem et consuctudinem
fecerunt.1 idem sibi ne arbitretur quis licere : magnis
enim illi et divinis bonis hanc licentiam asscquebantiir.
If Socrates did any unusual thing, it is not for thee,
who art of an ordinary virtue, to assume the same
license : For he by a divine and excellent life hath
obtained leave or pardon respectively for what thou
must never hope for, till thou hast arrived to the
i»ame giories. First, be as devout as David., as good

228 OF GROWTH iNXsitf. Semi. XVIL

a Christian as St. Peter; and then thou wilt not
dare with design to act that which they fell into by
surprise : and if thou dost fall as they did, by that
time thou hast also repented like them, it may be
said concerning thee, that thou didst fall and break
thy bones, but God did heal thee and pardon thee.
Remember that all the damned souls shall bear an
eternity of torments for the pleasure of a short sinful-
ness ; but for a single transient action to die for ever,
is an intolerable exchange, and theeirect of so great
a folly, that whosoever falls Into it and then considers
it, it will make him mad and distracted for ever.

3. Remember, that since no man can please God,
or be partaker of any promises, or reap the reward
of any actions in the returns of eternity, unless he
performs to God an entire duty, according to the ca-
pacities of a man so iau<^ht^ and so tempted^ and so
assisted ; such a person must be curious that he be
not cozened with the duties and performances of any
one relation. 1. Some there are that think all our
relijiion consists In prayers, and publick or private
offices of devotion, and not in moral actions or inter-
courses of justice and temperance, of kindness and
friendships, of sincerity and liberality, of chastity
and humility, of repentance and obedience. In-
deed no humour is so easy to be counterfeited as de-
votion ; and yet no hypocrisy is more common among
men, nor any so useless as to God : for it being an
address to him alone who knows the heart and all the
secret purposes, it can do no service in order to hea-
ven, so long as it is witliout the power of godliness^
and the energy and vivacity of a holy life. God will
not suffer us to commute a duty, because all is his
due ; and religion shall not pay for want of tempe-
rance. If the devoutest hermit be proud ; or he that
fasts thrice in the week be uncharitable 07ice ; or he
that gives much to the poor, gives also too much

Serm. XVIl. of growth in sin. 32U

liberty to himseir; lie hath planted a fair garden,
and invited a wild boai- to refresh himself under the
shade of the fruit trees, and his guest being some-
thing rude, hath disordered his paiadise, and made
it become a wilderness. 2. Otheis there are, that
judge themselves by the censures that kings and
princes give conceining them, or aslhej are spoken of
by their betters; and so make false judgments con-
cerning their condition. For our betters, to whom
"we shew our best parts, to whom we speak with cau-
tion and consider what we represent, they see our arts
and our dressings, but nothing of our nature and de-
formities : trust not their censures concerning thee, but
to thy own opinion of thyself whom thou knowest in
thy retirements, and natural peevishness, and unhand-
soine inclinations, and secret baseness. 3. Some men
have been admired abroad, in whom the wife and the
servant never saw any thing excellent : Jl rare judge
and a good conimonu culih'' s man in the streets and pub-
lick meetings, ajW man to his neighbour, and chari-
table to the poor ; for m all these places the man is
observed, and kept in awe by the sun, by light and
by voices : but this man is a tyrant at liome, an un-
kind husband, an ill father, an inipeiious master.
And such men are like prophets in their own coun-
tries, not honoured at home, and can never be honur-
ed by God, who will not endure that many virtues
should excuse a tew vices, or that any of lus servants
shall take pensions of the devil, and in the pioies-
sion of his service do his enemy single advantages.

4. He that hath past many stages of a g<.od life,
to prevent his being tempted to a single sin, must be
very careful that he never entertain his spirit with
the remembrances of his past sin, nor amuse it with
the fantastick apprehensions of the present. When

VOL. II. 43

330 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Semi. XVII.

the Israeliles fancied the sapiclness anJ relish of the
ileshj>ots, they loni^fed to taste and to return.

So when a Lybian tiger, drawn from his wilder fo-
rai^ings, is shut up and taught to eat civil meat, and
SMifer the authority of a man, he sits down tamely in
liis prison, and pays to his keeper fear and reverence
foi- his meat: but if he chance to come again, and
taste a draught of warm blood, he presently leaps
into his natural cruelty.*

Admonitaeqiie tiiment gustato sanguine fauces ;
Fervet, et a trepido vix abstiuet ira magistro.f

He scarce abstains from eating those hands that
brought him discipline and food. So is the nature
of a man made tame and gentle by the grace of God,
and reduced to reason, and kept in awe by religion
and laws, and by an awful virtue is taught to forget
those allurinor and sottish relishes of sm : but if he
diverts from his path, and snatches handfuls from the
wanton vineyards, and remembers the lasciviousness
of his unwholesome food that pleased his childish
palate : then he grows sick again, and hungry after

* Lucan : Lib. iv. 221.

Sic ubi dissuetae sylvis in carcere clausae
IVlansuevere ferae, et vultus posuere minaces
Atqtie honiinem didicere pati ; si torrida parvus
Venil in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque furorque.

The savage race (hat wild in forests ran,

Are tam'd by art to endure the touch of man,

But Ishiod once tasted, all their ire returns,

And each grim beast with former fury burns. A.

f Lucan : iv. 241.

Grows more ferocious frr;m the tasted food,

And longs to revel in his keeper's blood. A.

Serm. XVII. of cuowtii in sin. 331

unwholesome diet, and longs for the apples of *Sot/om.
A man must walkthrough the world without eyes
or eais, fancy or appetite, but such as are created
and sane tified by the grace of God ; and being once
ma'le a new man, he must serve all the needs of na-
ture by the appetites and faculties of grace; nature
must be wholly a servant : and we must so look to-
wards the dehciousncss of our religion and the la-
vishinents of heaven, that our memory must be for
ever useless to the aifairs and |)erceplions of sin.
We cannot stand, we cannot live, unless we be curi-
ous and watchful in this particular.

By these and all other arts of the spirit, if we
stand upon our guard, never indulging to ourselves
one sin because it is but owe, as knowing that one sin
brought in death upon all the world, and one sin
brought slavery upon the posterity of Chain; and
always fearing lest death surprise us in that one sin;
we shall by the grace of God either not need, or
else easily perceive the effects and blessings of that
compassion which God reserves in the secrets of his
mercy, for such persons, whom his grace hath or-
dained and disposed with excellent dispositions unto
life eternal.

These are the sorts of men which are to be used
with compassion, concerning whom we are to make a
ditference, making a difference^ so says the text. y\nd
it is of high concernment that we should do so, tiiat
we may relieve the infirmities of the men, and re-
lieve their sicknesses, and transcribe the copy of the
divine mercy, who loves not to (quench the smoaking
flax., nor break the bruised reed. For although all sins
are against God's commandments directly, or by cer-
tain consequents, by line, or by analogy ; yet they are
not all of the same tincture and moitalitv.

332 OF GROWTH IN SIN. Semi. XVII.

Nee viiir.it ratio, tantiindem ut peccet idemque,
Qui tencros caules alieui frcgtarit liorti,
Ut qui noctmnus div in sacra legerit *

He that robs a garden of coleworts, and carries
away an armful of spinnage,does not deserve hell, as
he that steals the chalice from the church, or betrays
a prince ; and therefore men are distinguished accord-
ingly.

Est inter Tanaiin quiddam socenimque Viselli.f

The poet that Scj anus condemned for dishonouring
the memory of ^^gamemnon^ was not an equal crimi-
nal with Catfiline or Gracchus : and Simon Mai^iis
and the JYicolaiians committed crimes, which God
hated more than tlie complying of St. Barnabas^ or
the dissimulation of St. Peter ; and therefore God
does treat these persons severely. Some of these
are restrained with a fit of sickness, some with a
great loss, and in these there are degrees ; and some
arrive at death. And in this manner God scourged
the Qorinthians^ for their irreverent and disorderly
receiving the holy sacrament. For although even
the ifiast of the sins that I have discoursed of will
lead to death eternal, if their course be not inter-
rupted, and tlie disorder chastised ; yet because we
do not stop their progress instantly, God many times
does, and visits us with proportionable judgments j

=*= Hop. Lib. 1. Sat. 3. 115.

Nor can risiit reason prove the crime the same

To rob a garden, or by fear nnaw'd.

To steal by night the sacred things of God.

Francis.

t Ilor. Lib. 1. Sat. 1. 105.

For sure some difference liei

Between tiie very fool and very wise. Francis.

Serm. XVIL of groavth kv sin. 333

and so not only checks the rivulet from swelling Into
rivers and a vastness, but plainly tells us, that al-
though smaller crimes shall not be punished with
equal severity as the greatest, yet even in hell there
are eternal rods as well as eternal scorpions; and the
smallest crime that we act with an iniant malice, and
manly deliberation, shall be revenged with the lesser
strokes of wrath, but yet with the atlliction of a sad
eternity. But then that we also should make a dif-
ference, is a precept concerning church discipline,
and therefore not here proper to be considered, but
only as it may concern our own particulars in the ac-
tions of repentance, and our brethren in fraternal
correction.

-ads it

Rogiila quae poenas ppccatis irroget aequas,
Nee scutica digmim honibili seclere flagcllo.*

Let us be sure that we neglect no sin, but repent
for evert/ one, and judge ourselves for every one, accord-
ing to the proportion of the malice, or the scandal,
or the danger. And although in this there is no fear
that we would be excessive ; yet when we are to re-
prove a brother we are sharp enough, and either by
pride or by animosity, by the itch of government or
the indignation of an angry mind, we run beyond the
gentleness of a Christian monitor. We must re-
member that by Christ's law some are to be admo-
nished private/if : some to be shamed and corrected
publickly ; and, beyond these, there is an abscission,
or a cutting off from the communion of faithful peo-
ple, a delivering over to satan. And to this purpose is

* Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 3. 117.

Then let the punishment be fairly weigh'd

Against tiie crime ; nor let the wretch be flay'd,

Who scarce deserves the lash. Francis.

334 OF GROWTH IN' SIN. Serm. XVIT.

that old reading of the words of my text, which is
still in some copies, xaw Tovf ^w.v «a«%ts <ft*«p/vo^ivot/?, reprove them
sharply ivhen they are convinced, or separate by sentence.
But because this also is a design of mercy acted with
an instance of disciphne, it is a punishment of the
flesh, that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord ;
it means the same with the usual reading, and with
the last words of the text, and teaches us our usage
towards the worst of recoverable sinners.

II. Others save with fear., pvlling them out of the fire.
Some sins there are which in their own nature are
damnable., and some are such as ivill certainly bring
a man to damnation: the first are curable, but with
much danger ; the second are desperate and irreco-
verable. When a man is violently tempted and al-
lured with an object, that is proportionable and plea«
sant to his vigorous appetite, and his unabated, un-
mortified nature, this man falls into death ; but yet
we pity him, as we pity a thief that robs for his ne-
cessity: this man did not tempt himself, but his spi-
rit suffers violence, and his reason is invaded, and his
infirmities are mighty, and his aids not yet prevail-
ing. But when this single temptation hath prevailed
for a single Instance, and leaves a relish upon the pa-
late, and this produces another, and that also is fruit-
ful and swells into a family and kindred of sin, that
is, it grows first into approbation, then to a clear as-
sent, and an untroubled conscience, thence into fre-
quency, from thence into a custom, and easiness, and
a habit; this man is fallen into the fire. There are
also some single acts of so great a malice, that they
must suppose a man habitually sinful before he could
arrive at that height of wickedness. No man be-
gins his sinful course with killing of his father or his
prince : and Si?Jion Magus had preambulatory impie-
ties; he was covetous and ambitious long before he
offered to buy the Holy Ghost. Nemo repente fuil

\

Serm. XVII. of growth in sin. 335

turpissimus* — And although such actions may have
in them the malice and the mischief, the disorder
and the wrong, the principle and the permanent ef-
fect of a habit and a long course of sin ; yet because
they never or very seldom go alone, but after the
predisposition of other ushering crimes, we shall
not amiss comprise them under the name of habitu
al sins: for such they are, either formally, or equi-
valently. And if any man hath fallen into a sinful
habit, into a course and order of sinning, his case is
little less than desperate; but that little hope that
is remanent hath its degree, according to the infan-
cy or the growth of the habit.

1. For all sins less than habitual, it is certain a
pardon is ready to penitent persons; that is, to all
that sin in ignorance or in intirmity, by surprise or
inadvertency, in smaller instances or in frequent re-
turns, with involuntary actions or imperfect resolutions.

ym,7^oLi, « t; ox vT«f »^*5T«Tf . said Clemens in his epistle : L?fi up
your hands to Almighty God-^ and pray him to be mer-
cifvltoyou in all things when you sin unwillingly ; that
is, in which you sin with an imperfect choice. For
no man sins af^ainst his will directly, but when his
unJt rstanding is abused by aii inevitable or an intole-
rable weakness, or their wills follow their blind guide,
and are not the perfect mistressesof their own actions;
and therefoi e leave a way and easiness to repent, and
be ashamed of them, and therefore a possibility and
readiness for pardon. And these are the sins that we
are taught to pray to God that he would pardon, as he
gives us our bread, that is, every day. For in many
things we offend cdL said St. James^ that is, in many
imailer matters, in matters of surprise or inevitable

* Jin. Sat. II. V. 83.
No man e'er readied tlie heiglus of vice at once.

Drvde.n

336 OF GROWTH IN SIN. tSemi. XVII.

infirmity. And therefore PosidoniKS said, that St.
Muslin was used to say, that he would not have even
good and holy priests go from this ivorld without the
susception of equal and worthy penances : and the most
innocent hie in our account is not a competent in-
strument of a peremptory confidence, and of justify-
ing ourselves. / am guilty of nothing, (said St.
Paul,) that is, of no ill intent, or negligence in preach-
in o" the gospel; yet I am not hereby justified^ for
God, it may be, knows many little irregularities and
insinuations of sin. In this case we are to make a ditfe-
rence; but humility, and prayer, and watchfulness, are
the direct instruments of the expiation of such sins.

But then, secondly, whosoever sins without these
abating circumstances, that is, in great instances, in
which a man's understanding cannot be cozened, as
in drunkenness, murder, adultery, and in the frequent
repetitions of any sort of sin whatsoever, in which
a man's choice cannot be surprised, and in which it
is certain there is a love of the sin, and a delio;ht in
it, and a power over a man's resolutions; in these
cases it is a miraculous grace, and an extraordinary
change, that must turn the current and the stream
of the iniquity ; and when it is begun, the pardon is
more uncertain, and the repentance more difficult,
and the effect much abated, and the man must be
made miserable, that he may not be accursed for
ever.

1. I say, his pardon is uncertain; because there
are some sins which are unpardonable, (as I shall
shew) and they are not all named in particular; and
the degrees of malice being uncertain, the salvation
of that man is to be wrought with infinite fear and
treriibling. It was the case of Simon Magus, Repent
and ask pardon for thy sin, if peradventure the thought
of thy heart may be forgiven thee* If peradven-
ture : it was a new crime, and concerning its possi-

* Acts viii. .12.

Serm. XVII, of growth in sin. 3ST

bility of pardon no revelation had been made, and
by analogy to oilier crimes, it was very like an
unpardonable sin : for it was a thinking a thought
against the Holy Ghost, and that was next to speaking
a word against him. Cain^s sin was of the same na-
ture ; It is greater than it can be forgiven : his passion
and his fear was too severe and decretory ; it was
pardonable, but truly we never find that God did par-
don it.

2. But besides this, it is uncertain in the pardon,
because it may be the time of pardon is passed ;
and though God hath pardoned to other people the
same sins, and to thee too sometimes before, yet it
may be he will not now : he bath not promised par-
don so often as we sin, and in all the returns of im-
pudence, apostacy, and ingratitude ; and it may be thy
day is past, as was JerusalenCs, in the day that they
crucified the Saviour of the world.

3. Pardon of such habitual sins is uncertain, be-
cause life is uncertain; and such sins require much
time for their abolition and expiation. And tb.ere-
fore although these sins are not necessario mortifera,
that is, unpardonable, yet by consequence they be-
come deadly ; because our life may be cut off before
we have finished or performed those necessary
parts of repentance, which are the severe, and yet
the only condition of getting pardon. So that you
may perceive, that not only every great single cri?ne,
but the habit of any sin is dangerous : and therefore
these persons are to be snatched from the fire, if you
mean to rescue them: «« Tot/a-ug-.c a^77-afci7ec. If you stay
a day, it may be you stay too long.

4. To which I add this fourth consideration, that
every delay of return is in the case of liabitual sins
an approach to desperation, because the natuie of
habits is like that of the crocodiles, they grow as
long as they live ; and if they come to obstinacy or

YOL. II. 14

53s OF GROWTH IN SIN. Senn. XF/i,

conformation^ thej are in hell already, and can ne-
ver return back. For so the Pannonian bears, when
they have clasped a dart in the region of their liver,
wheel themselves upon the wound, and with anger
and nialicioug revenge strike the deadly barb deeper,
and cannot be quit from that fatal steel, but in flying,
bear along that which themselves make the instru-
ment of a more hasty death ; so is every vicious per-
son struck with a deadly wound, and his own hands
force it into the entertainments of the heart ; and
because it is painful to draw it forth by a sharp and
salutary repentance, he still rolls and turns upon his
"wound, and carries his death in his bowels, where at
first entered by choice, and then dwelt by love, and
it last shall finish the tragedy by divine judgments
and an unalterable decree.

But as the pardon of these sins is uncertain, so the
conditions of restitution are hard even to them who
!?hall be pardoned : their pardon and themselves too
rnust be fetched from the j^re, water will not doitj
tears and ineffective sorrow cannot take off a habit,
or a great crime.

O niraium faciles, qni tristia cnraina caedis
Tolli flumiuea posse putatis aqua !*

jS^ow seeing a prince weep and tearing his hair for
sorrow, asked if baldness would cure his grief.
Such pompous sorrows may be good indices^ but no
perfect instruments of restitution. St. James'\ plainly
tjcclares the possibilities of pardon to great sins, in

* Ovid. Fast. Lib. 2. v. 45.

Thee, IVIurderer ! let not flatterin? hope betray,

Can tears avail to wash thy guilt away ! A.

t Chap, jy, 1.3.

^crm. XVti. OF growth in siff. 33^

the cases of contention, adultery, lust, and envy, which
are the four great indecencies that are most contrary
to Christianity : and in the hfth chapter he imph'es
also a possibility of pardon to an habitual sinner,
whom he calls t'^v s->.«wSsvta a*o t« hSz-j tcoc otwiSjw?, one that
errs from the truth, that is, from the life of a Chris-
tian,//ic ///e o/Z/ic 5/?mV of truth : and he adds, that
such a person may be reduced, and so be pardoned,
though he have sinned long ; he that converts such a
one shall hide a multitude of sins.* But then the way
that he appoints for the restitution of such persons is
humility and humiliation, penances and sharp penitential
sorrows, and afflictions, resisting the devil, returning to
God, weeping and mourning, confessions, and prayers^
as you may read at large in the fourth and fifth chap-
ters, and there it is that you shall fmd it a duty, that
such persons should be afflicted, and should confess to
their brethren ; and these are harder conditions than
God requires in the former cases ; these are a kind
oi fiery trial.

I have now done with my text, and should add no
more, but that the nature of these sins is such, that
they may increase in their weight, and duration, and
malice, and then they increase in mischief and fatality,
and so go beyond the text. Cicero said well, Ipsa
consuetudo assentiendi periculosa esse videtur et lubrica^
L. 4. Acad. Qu. The very custom of consenting in
matters of civility is dangerous and slippery, and
will quickly engage us in errour ; and then we think
we are bound to defend them ; or else we are made
flatterers by it, and so become vicious : and we love
our own vices that we are used to, and keep them till
they are incurable, that is, till we never repent of
them : and some men resolve never to repent, that
ts, they resolve they will not be saved, they trsad mi-

* Ghap. T.. ver. alt.

'^i-ii) ov GROWTH IX »iN. Serm. XVIt.

der foot the blood of ihe everlasting covenant. Those
persons are in the Jire too, but they will not be pulled
out: concerning wfiom God's prophets must say as
once concerninii; Babylon^ Curavimus, et non est sana-
ta ; derelinquamus earn : We would have healed them,
but they would not be healed ; let us leave them in
their sins, and they shall have enough of it. Only
this : Those that put themselves out of the condition
of mercy are not to be endured in Christian socie-
ties ; they deserve it not, and it is not safe that thej
should be suffered.

But besides all this, I shall name one thing more
unto you ; for

nnnqiiam adeo foedis adeoque pudendis

Utimur exeniplis, lit non pejora supersint.*

There are some single actions of sin of so great a
malice, that in their own nature they are beyond the
limit of gospel pardon : they are not such things for
the pardon of which God entered into covenant, be-
cause they are such sins which put a man into perfect
indispositions, and incapacities of entering into or
being in the covenant. In the first ages of the world,
atheism was of that nature, it was against their whole
relio'ion ; and the sin is worse now, asjainst the whole
religion still, and against a brighter^ light. In the
ages after the flood, idolatry was also just such an-
other; for God was known first only as the Creator;
then he began to manifest himself in special contracts
with men, and he quickly was declared the God of
Israel ; and idolatry perfectly destroyed all that reli-
gion<f and therefore was never pardoned entirely, but

* Juv. Sat, 8. V. 183.
Sliameful are these examples, yet we find,
To Rome's disgrace, far worse than these behind.

DrYDEiV.

Serm. XVII. op growth in sin. 341

God did visit It upon them that sinned ; and when he
pardoned it in some degrees, yet he also punished it
in some: and yet rebellion an;ainst the supreme
power oi" Afoses and ./Ifwon was worse ; for that also
was a perfect destruction of tlie whole religion, be*
cause it refused to submit to those hands upon which
God had placed all the religion and all the govern-
ment. And now if we would know in the gospel
what answers these precedent sins ; I answer, first,
the same sins acted by a resolute hand and heart are
worse now then ever they were: and a third and
fourth is also to be added ; and there is aposiacy^ or
a voluntary malicious renouncing the faith : the church
hath often declared tlr-it sin to be unpardonable.
Witchcraft^ or final impenitence and obstinacy in any
sin, are infallibly desperate ; and in general, and by
a certain parity of reason, whatsoever does destroy
charity or the good life of a Christian, with the same
general venom and deletery as apostacy^ destroys
faith: and he that is a rew^g-at/o from charity is as
unpardonable as he that returns to solemn atheism or
infidelity ; for all that is directly the sin against the
Holy Ghost, that is, a throwing that away whereby
only we can be Christians, whereby only we can
hope to be saved. To speak a word against the Holy
Ghost^ in the Pharisees was declared unpardonable^
because it was such a word^ which, if it had been
true or believed, would have destroyed the whole
religion ; for they said that Christ wrought by Beel-
zebub^ and by consequence did not come from God.
He that destroys all the whole order o( priesthood,
destroys one of the greatest parts of the religion,
and one of the greatest effects of the Holy Ghost:
He that destroys government destroys another part.
But that we may come nearer to ourselves : To
quench the spirit of God is worse than to speak some
words against him ; to grieve the Spirit of God is a

842 OF GROWTH ii^ SIN'. Scrwi. XVIt,

part of tlie same impiety ; to resist the Holy Ghost is
another part: and if we consider that every great
sin does this in proportion, it would concern us to
be careful lest we fall into presumptuous sms^ lest they
get the dominion over us. Out of this that I have
spoken, you may easily gather what sort of men those
are who cannot be snatched frora the fire ; for whom,
as St. John says, we are not to pray ; and how near
men come to it that continue in any known sin. If
I should descend to particulars, I might lay a snare
to scrupulous and nice consciences. This only ;
every confirmed habitual sinner does manifest the
divine justice in punishing the sins of a short life with
a never-dying worm, and a never-quenched flame ;
because he hath an aifection to sin, that no time will
diminish, but such as would increase to eternal ages ;
and accordingly as any man hath a degree of love^
so he hath lodged in his soul a spark which, unless
it be speedily and effectually quenched, Avill break
forth into unquenchable fire.

SERMON XVIil.

THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE.

Matthew xvi. 26.

For what is a raau profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?

AV^HEN the eternal mercy of God hath decreed to
rescue mankind from misery and infeUcity, and so
triumphed over his own justice; the excellent wisdom
of God resolved to do it in ways contradictory to the
appetites and designs of njan, that it might also tri-
umph over our weaknesses and imperfect concep-
tions. So God decreed to glorify his mercy by curing
our sins, and to exalt his wisdom by the reproof of
our ignorance, and the representing upon what weak
and false principles we had built our hopes and ex-
pectations of felicity ; pleasure and profit, victory
over our enemies, riches and pompons honours,
power and revenge, desires according to sensual ap-
petites, and prosecutions violent and passionate of
those appetites, health and long life, free from trou-
ble, without poverty or persecution.

Haec sunt, jucundissirae Martialis,
Vitara quae faciunt beatiorem.*

* Mart. Lib. 10. 47.
These heighten all the jovspf life.

344 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Semi. XVJIL

These are the measures of good and evil, the ob-
ject of" our hopes and fears, the securing our consent,
and the portion of this world ; and for the other, let
it be as it may. But the blessed Jesus having made
revelations of an immortal duration, of another world,
and of a strange restitution to it, even by the resur-
rection of the body, and a new investiture of the soul
with the same upper garment, clarified and made
pure, so as no fuller on earth can whiten it ; hath
also preached a new philosophy, hath cancelled all
the old principles, reduced the appetites of sense to
the discourses of reason, and heightened reason to
the sublimities of the spirit, teaching us abstractions
and immaterial conceptions, giving us new eyes, and
new objects, and new proportions : for now sensual
pleasures are not delightful, riches are dross, honours
are nothing but the appendages of virtue, and in re-
lation to it are to receive their account. But now if
you would enjoy life, you must die ; if you would be
at ease, you must take up Christ's cross, and conform
to his sufferings, if you wot\\d save your life you must
lose it ; and if you would be rich, you must abound
in good works, you must be poor in spirit, and de-
spise the world, and be rich unto God ; for whatso-
ever is contrary to the purchases and affections of
this world, is an endearment of our hopes in the world
to come. And therefore he having stated the ques-
tion so, that either we must cjuit this world or the
other; our affections, I mean, and adherencies to this,
or our interests and hopes of the other; the choice
is rendered very easy by the words of my text, be-
cause the distance is not less than infinite, and the
comparison hath terms of a vast difference. Hea-
ven and hell, eternity and a moment, vanity and
real felicity, life and death eternal, all that can bo
hoped for, and all that can be feared; these are the
terms of our choice : and if a man have his wits

Scrm^ XVIII. the foolish exchange. 315

about him, and be not drunk with sensuality and
senselessness, he need not much to dispute heiure lie
pass the sentence. For nothinj^ can be given to us
to recompense the loss of heaven ; and it our souls
be lost, there is nothing remaining to us whereby we
can be happy.

W fiat shall it profit a man? or, icliat shall a man
give? Is there any exchange for a man's soul? the
question is an M^>,ri( of the negative. Notliing can be
given for an ^i-T^xAct^^^a, or a price to satisfy for its loss.

The blood of the Son of God was given to recover
it, or as an aiTa\\a>yu* to God ; and when our souls were
forfeit to him, nothing less than the life and passion
of God and man could pay the price, (I say) to God ;
"who yet was not concerned in the loss, save on y that
such was his goodness, that it pitied him to see his
creature lost. But to us what shall be the avT«AAa>^*?
what can make us recompense when we have lost
our own souls, and are lost in a miserable eternity ?
what can then recompense us ? Not all the world,
not ten thousand worlds : and of this that miserable
man whose soul is lost is tlie best judge. For (he
question h uSunruov, and hath a potential signification,
and means voa-^. ^v <^*cr«", that is, suppose a man ready to
die, condemned to the sentence of a horrid death,
heightened with the circumstances of trembling
and amazement, ivhat would he give to save his life ?
Kycfor eye, tooth for toothy and all that a man hath, will
he give for his life. And this turned to a provei b
among the Jews ; for so the last words of the text
are, t/ cfa«; avSgaTsc «vT«xA=t>^« tk 4^;^"? ; which proverb bciug
usually meant concerning a temporal death, and in-
tended to represent the sadnesses of a condemned per-
son, our blessed Saviour fits to his own purpose, and
translates to the signification of death eternal, which
he first revealed clearly to tlie world. And because no
interest of the world can make a man recompense fov

VOL. II. 45

346 THE ifooLisH EXCHANGE. Serm. XVIIL

his life, because to lose that makes him incapable of
enjoying the exchange, (and he were a strange fool,
tvlio, having no design upon immortality or virtue,
should be willing to be hanged for a thousand pound
per annmn) this argument increases infinitely in the
purpose of our blessed Saviour; and to gain the
world, and to lose our souls, in the Christian sense,
is infinitely more madness and a worse exchange,
than when our souls signify nothing but a temporal
life. And although possibly the indefinite hopes of
Elysium^ or an honourable name, might tempt some
hardy persons to leave this world, hoping for a
better condition, even among the heathens ; yet no
excuse will acquit a Christian from madness, if for the
purchase of this world he lose his eternity.

Here then, first, we will consider the propositions
of the exchange, the world and a mail's soul, by way
of supposition, supposing all that is propounded were
obtained, the whole world. Secondly, we will con-
sider, what is likely to be obtained really and indeed
of the world, and what are really the miseries of a
lost soul. For it is propounded in the text by way
of supposition, If a man should gain the worlds \\hich
no man ever did, nor ever can; and he that gets
most, gets too little to be exchanged for a temporal
life. And thirdly, I shall apply it to your practice,
and make material considerations.

1. First, then, suppose a man gets all the world,
what is it that he gets ? it is a bubble and a phantasm,
and hath no reality beyond a present transient use ;
a thing that is impossible to be enjoyed, because its
fruits and usages are transmitted to us by parts, and
by succession. He that hath all the world, (if we
can suppose such a man) cannot have a dish of fresh
summer fruits in the midst of winter, not so much as
a green fig: and very much of its possessions is so
hid, so fugacious and of so uncertain purchase, that

Sernir, XVIIL the foolish exchange. 34f

it is like the riches of the sea to the lord of the
shore ; all the fish and wealth within all its hoUow-
nesses are his, but he is never the better for what he
cannot get: all the shell-fish that produce pearl, pro-
duce them not for him ; and the bowels of the eartli
shall hide her treasures in undiscovered retirements :
so that it will signify as much to this great purchaser
to be entitled to an inheritance in the upper region
of the air ; he is so far fVom possessing all its riches,
that he does not so much as know of them, nor un-
derstand the philosophy of her minerals.

2. I consider, that he that is the greatest possessor
in the world, enjoys its best and most noble parts, and
those which are of most excellent perfection, but in
common with the inferiour persons, and the most des-
picable of his kingdom. Can the greatest prince en-
close the sun, and set one little star in his cabinet for
his own use ? or secure to iiimself the gentle and
benign influences of any one constellation? are not
his subjects' fields bedewed with the same showers;
that water his gardens of pleasure ?

Nay those things which he esteems his ornament
and the singularity of his possessions, are they not
of more use to others than to himself? for suppose
his garments splendid and shining like the robe of a
cherub or the clothing of the fields, all that he that
wears them enjoys, is, that they keep him warm and
clean, and modest; and ah this is done by clean and
less pom[)ous vestments; and the beauty of them,
which distinguishes him from others, is made to
please the eyes of the beholders ; and he is like a
fair bird, or the meretricious painting of a wanton
woman, made wholly to be looked on, that is, to be
enjoyed by every one but himself: and the fairest
face and the sparkling eye cannot perceive or enjoy
their own beauties, but by reflection. It is I that am
pleased with beholding his gayety, and the gay man

3lo THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Semi. XVIIL

in his greatest bravery is only pleased because I am
pleased with the sight ; so borrowing his little and
imaginary complacency from the delight that I have,
not iVom any inherency of his ovj^n possession.

The poorest artizan of Rome walking in Ccesar's
gardens, had tiie same pleasures which they minis-
tered to their lord : and although it may be he was
put to gather fruits to eat from another place, yet his
other senses were delighted equally with Ccesar's :
the birds made him as good musick, the dowers gave
him as sweet smells, he there sucked as good air,
and delighted in the beauty and order of the place,
for the same reason and upon the same perception
as the prince himself; save only that Ccesur paid tor
all that pleasure vast sums of money, the blood and
treasure of a province, which the poor man had for
nothing.

3. Suppose a man lord of all the world, (for still
we are but in supposition) ; yet since every thing is
received not accordins: to its own g-reatness and
worth, but according to the capacity ot the receiver,
it signifies very little as to our content, or to the
riches of our possession. If any man should give to
a lion a fair meadow full of hay, or a thousand quince
trees : or should give to the goodly bull, the master
and the fairest of the whole herd, a thousand fair
stags ; if a man should present to a child a ship
laden with Persian carpets, and the ingredients of
the rich scarlet; all these, being disproportionate
either to the appetite or to the understanding, could
add nothing of content, and might declare the free-
ness of the presenter, but they upbraid the incapacity
of the receiver. And so it does if God should give
the whole world to any man. He knows not what
to do with it; he can use no more but according to
the capacities of a man ; he can use nothing but meat
and drink and cloathsj and infinite riches, that can

Serm. XVIII. THE FOOLISH exchange;. M§

give him chanj^es of raiment every day and a full
table, do but give him a clean trencher every bit he
eats; it signifies no more but wantonness, and va-
riety to the same, not to any new purposes. He to
whom the world can be given to any purpose greater
than a private estate can minister, must have new
capacities created in him : he needs the understand-
ing of an angel, to take the accounts of his estate;
he had need have a stomach like fire or the grave,
for else he can eat no more than one of his healthful
subjects; and unless he hath an eye like the sun, and
a motion like that of a thought, and a bulk as big as
one of t]]e orbs of heaven, the pleasure of his eye
can be no greater than to behold the beauty of a
little prospect from a hill, or to look upon the heap
of gold packed up in a little room, or to dote upon a
cabinet of jewels, better than which there is no maa
that sees at all but sees e\ery day. For, not to
name the beauties and sparkling diamonds of heaven,
a man's, or a woman's, or a hawk's eye is more
beauteous and excellent than all the jewels of his
crown. And when we remember, that a beast, who
hath quicker senses than a man, yet hath not so
great delight in the fruition of any object, because
he wants understanding, and the power to make re-
flex acts upon his perception ; it will follow, that
understanding and knowledge is the greatest instru-
ment of pleasure, and he that is most knowing hath
a capacity to become happy, which a less-knowing
prince or a rich person hath not: and in this only a
man's capacity is capable of enlargement. But then,
although they only have power to relish any pleasure
rightly, who rightly understand the nature and de-
grees, and essences, and ends of things; yet they
that do so, understand also the vanity and the un-
satisfyingness of the things of this world, so that the
relish which could not be great but in a great un-

350 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Senu. XVllL

derstanding, appears contemptible, because its vanity
appears at the same time; the understanding sees
all, and sees through it.

4. The greatest vanity of this world is remarkable
in this, that all its joys summed up together are not
big enough to counterpoise the evil of one sharp
disease, or to allay a sorrow. For imagine a man
great in his dominion as Cyrus, rich as Solomon, vic-
torious as David, beloved like Titus, learned as
Tristmegist, powerful as all the Roman greatness;
all this, and the results of all this, give him no more
pleasure in the midst of a fever or the tortures of the
stone, than if he were only lord of a little dish, and
a dishfuU of fountain-water. Indeed the excellency
of a holy conscience is a comfort and a magazine of
joy, so great, that it sweetens the most bitter potion
of the world, and makes tortures and death not only
tolerable, but amiable ; and therefore to part with
this whose excellency is so great, for the world, that
is of so inconsiderable a worth, as not to have in it
recompense enough for the sorrows of a sharp dis-
ease, is a bargain fit to be made by none but fools
and mad men. Aiitiochus Epiphanes, and Herod the
Great, and his grand-child J]grippa, were sad in-
stances of this great truth; to every of which it
happened, that the grandeur of their fortune, the
greatness of their possessions, and the increase of
their estate disappeared and expired like camphire,
at their arrest by those several sharp diseases, which
covered their head with cypress, and hid their crowns
in an inglorious grave.

For what can all the world minister to a sick per-
son, if it represents all the spoils of nature, and the
choicest delicacies of land and sea ? Alas ! his ap-
petite is lost, and to see a pebble-stone is more
pleasing to him : for he can look upon that without
loathing, but not so upon the most delicious fare that

Serm. XVIII. the foolish exchange. 351

ever made famous the Roman luxury. Perfumes
make liis head ache : if you load him with jeAvels,
you press him with a burthen as troubU)some as his
grave-stone : and what pleasure is in all those pos-
sessions that cannot make Iiis pillow easy, nor tame
the rebellion of a tumultuous humour, nor restore
the use of a withered hand, or straighten a crooked
finger? Vain is the hope of that man whose soul
rests upon vanity, and such unprolitabie possessions.
5. Suppose a man lord of all this world, an univer-
sal monarch, as some princes have lately designed;
all that cannot minister content to him; not that
content which a poor contemplative man, by the
strength of Christian philosophy, and the support of
a very small fortune, daily does enjoy. All his power
and greatness cannot command the sea to overflow
his shores, or to stay from retiring to the opposite
strand : it cannot make his children dutiful or wise.
And though the world admired at the greatness of
Philip the Second 's fortune, in the accession of Por-
iugal and the East-Indies to his principalities ; yet
this could not allay the infelicity of his family, and
the unhandsomeness of his condition, in having a
proud, and indiscreet, and a vicious young prince
likely to inherit all his greatness. And if nothing
appears in the face of such a foi tune to tell all the
world that it is spotted and imperfect ; yet there is
in all conditions of the world such weariness and te-
diousness of spirits, that a man is ever more pleased
with hopes of going oflf from the present, than in
dwelling upon that condition which, it may be, others
admire and think beauteous, but none knoweth tlie
smart of it but he tiiat drank oif the little pleasure,
and felt the ill relish of the appendage. How many
kino's have oToaned under the burthen of their
crowns, and have sunk down and died ? How many
have quitted their pompous cares, and retired into

352 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Serm. XVIII.

private lives, there to enjoy the pleasures of philo-
sophy and rcHgion. which their thrones denied ?

And ii" we consider the supposition of the text, the
thing will demonstrate itself. For he who can be
supposed the owner and purchaser of the whole
world, must either be a king or a private person. A
private person can hardly be supposed to be the
man : for if he be subject to another, how can he be
lord of the whole world ? But if he be a king, it is
certain that his cares are greater than any man's,
his fears are bigger, his evils mountainous, the acci-
dents that discompose him are more frequent, and
sometimes intolerable : and of all his great posses-
sions he hath not the greatest use and benefit: but
they are like a great harvest, which more labourers
must bring in, and more must eat of; only he is the
centre of all the cares, and they fix upon him, but
the profits run out to all the lines of the circle, to all
that are about him, whose good is therefore greater
than the good of the prince, because what they enjoy
is the purchase of the prince's acre, and so they feed
upon his cost.

Privatusque magis vivam te rege beatus.*

Servants live the best lives ; for their care is single,
only how to please their lord : but all the burthen of
a troublesome providence and ministration makes the
outside pompous and more full of ceremony; but in-
tricates the condition, and disturbs the quiet of th^
great possessor.

And imagine a person as blest as can be supposed
upon the stock of worldly interest; when all his
accounts are cast up, he differs nothing from his

'■>■ Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 3. 141.
And bliss like miue tby kingship ne'er sbaJl know.

J<'ranc*s.

Serm. XVtII. the fooltsh exchange. 353

subjects or his servants but in mere circumstance,
notliinjr of realitv or substance. He hath more to
wait at his tables, or persons of higher rank to do
the meanest offices, more ceremonies of address, a
fairer escutclicon, louder titles : but can this multi-
tude of dishes make him have a good stomach, or
does not satiety cloy it? when his high diet is such,
that he is not capable of being feasted, and knows
not the frequent delights and oftener possibilities a
poor man hath of being refreshed, while not only
his labour makes hunger, and so makes his meat
delicate ; (and then it cannot be ill fare, let it be
what it will) but also his provision is such, that
evei'y little addition is a direct feast to him, while
the greatest owner of the world, giving to himself
the utmost of his desires, hath nothing left beyond
his ordinary, to become the entertainment of his
festival days, but more loads of the same meat.*
And then let him consider how much of felicity can
this condition contribute to him, in which he is not
farther gone beyond a person of a little foitune, in
the greatness of his possession, than he is fallen short
in the pleasures and possibility of their enjoyment.

And that is a sad condition, when, like JUidas, all
that the man touches shall turn to gold : and his is
no better, to whom a perpetual full table, not re-
created with fasting, not made pleasant with inter-
vening scarcity, ministers no more good than a heap
of gold does, that is, he hath no benefit of it, save,
the beholding of it vrith his eyes. Cannot a man
quench his thirst as well out of an urn or chalice, as
out of a whole river ? It is an ambitious thirst, and
a pride of draught, that had rather lay his mouth to
Euphrates than to a petty goblet ; but if he had

* Rare volte hae fame chista sempre a tayola.

VOL. ir. 16

'io4 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Scrm. XVIII.

rather, it adds not so much to his content, as to his
danger and his vanity.

eo fit.

Plenior nt si quos delectet copia justo,
Ciiiu rjpa siinul avulsos lerat Atifidus accr.*

For so I have heard of persons whom the river
liath swept away together with the turf they pressed,
when they stooped to drown their pride rather than
their thirst.

6. But this supposition hath a lessening terra. If
a man could be born heir of all the world, it were
something : but no man ever was so, except him only
who enjoyed the least of it, the Son of man, that had
not ivhere to lay his head. But in the supposition it is,
If a man could gain the whole tvorhl., which supposes
labour and sorrow, trouble and expense, venture and
hazard, and so much time expired in its acquist and
purchase, that, besides the possession is not secured
to us for a term of life, so our lives are almost ex-
pired before we become estated in our purchases.
And indeed it is a sad thing to see an ambitious or a
covetous person make his life unpleasant, trouble-
some and vexatious, to grasp a power bigger than
himself, to fight for it with infinite hazards of his
life, so that it is a thousand to one but he perishes
in the attempt, and gets nothing at all but an untimely
grave, a reproachful memory, and an early damna-
tion. But suppose he gets a victory, and that the
unhappy party is put to begin a new game ; then to

* Ilor. Lib. 1. Sat. 1. 50.
But mark his fate insatiate, who desires
Deeper to drink than nature's thirst requires ;
With its torn banks Uie torrent bears away
The intemperate wretch. JFrancis.

Serm. XVIII. tfie foolish exchange. 355

see the fears, the watchfulness, the cllllgence, the la-
borious arts to secure a possession, lest the desperate
party shouhl recover a desperate game. And sup-
pose this with a new stock of labours, danger and
expense, be seconded by a new success; then to
look upon the new emergencies, and troubles, and
discontents among his friends about parting the spoil ;
the envies, the jealousies, the slanders, the under-
minings, and tlie perpetual insecurity of his condition :
all this, I say, is to see a man take infmite pains to
make himself miserable. But if he will be so un-
learned as to call this gallantry or a splendid fortune ;
yet by this time, wlien he remembers he hath cer-
tainly spent much of his time in trouble, and how
long he shall enjoy this he is still uncertain ; he is
not certain of a month, and suppose it be seven years,
yet when he comes to die, and cast up his accounts,
and shall fuid notliing remaining but a sad remem-
brance of evils and troubles past, and expectations of
worse, infinitely worse, he must acknowledge him-
self convinced, that to gain all this world is a for-
tune not worth the labour and the dangers, the fears
and transportations of passions, though the soul's
loss be not considered in the baro-ain.

But I told you all this while that this is but a sup-
position still, the putting of a case, or like a liction
of law, nothing real. For if we consider, in tiie se-
cond place, how much every man is likely to get
really, and how much it is possible for any man to
get, we shall find the account far shorter yet, and the
purchase most trifling and inconsiderable. For first,
the world is at the same time enjoyed by all its inhabi-
tants, and the same portion of it by several persons
in their several capacities. A prince enjoys his
whole kingdom, not as all his people enjoy it, but in
the manner of a prince; the subject in the manner
of subjects. The prince hath certain regalia beyond

336 fTHE FOOLISH EXCHANGE* Serm. XVIII.

the rest ; but the feudal right of subjects does them
more emolument, and the regidia does the prince
more honour: and those that hokJ the fees in sub-
ordinate right, transmit also it to their tenants, be-
neficiaries and dependants, to publick uses, to charity,
and hospitahty ; all which is a lessening of the lord's
possessions, and a cutting his river into httle streams,
not that himself alone, but that all his relatives may
drink to be refreshed. Ihus the well where the wo-
man of Samaria sate, was Jacob''s well, and he drank
of it, but so did his wives, and his children, and his
cattle. So that what we call ours is really oui s but
for our portion of expense and use ; we have so little
of it, that our servants have far more ; and that
"which is ours is nothing Hut the title, and the care,
and the trouble of securing and dispensing ; save
only that God, whose stewards we all are, will call
such owners (as they are pleased to call themselves)
to strict accounts for their disbursements. And by
this account the possession or dominion is but a word,
and serves a fancy or a passion, or a vice, but no real
end of nature. It is the use and spending it, that
makes a man, to all real purposes of nature, to be the
owner of it, and in this the lord and master hath but
a share.

2. But secondly, consider how far short of the
whole world the greatest prince that ever reigned
did come. Alexander^ that wept because he had no
more worlds to conquer, was in his knowledge de-
ceived and brutish, as in his passion : he over-ran
much of Asia; but he could never pass the Ganges^
and never thrust his SAVord in the bowels of Europe^
and knew nothing of America. And the ouou/xm, or
the whole world, began to have an appropriate sense,
and was rather put to the Roman greatness as an ho-
nourable appellative, than did signify that they were

^erm. XVIII. the foolish exchange. 35F

lords of the world, who never went beyond Persia,
Egypt., nor Britain.

But why do 1 talk of great tilings, in this question
of the exchanire oi the soul for the world? Because
it is a real bargain which many men (too many, God
knows,) do make, we must consider it as applicable
to practice. Every n-ran that loses his soul for the
purchase of the world, must not look to have the por-
tion of a king. How {e\v men are princes, and of
those that are not born so, how seldom instances are
found in story of persons that by their industry be-
came so? But we must come far loweryet. Thou-
sands there are that damn themselves; and yet their
} purchase at long-running, and after a base and weary
ife spent, is but five hundred pounds a year: nay, it
may be they only cozen an easy person out of a good
estate, and pay for it at an easy rate, which they ob-
tain by lying, by drinking, by flattery, by force; and
the gain is nothing but a thousand pound in the whole,
or it may be nothing but a convenience. Nay. how many
men hazard their salvation for an acre of ji^rourtd, for
twenty pounds to please a master, to get a small and
a kind usage from asuperiour? These men get but
little, though they did not give so much for it. So lit-
tle, that Epictctus thought the purchase dear enough,
though you paid nothing for it but flattery and ob-
servance, Ou ?r:t^tKK>i^m ^^' irriAo-iV Tivoc j ow ya^ iSu'x.x^ tu> haKcvvIi oo-jo
■nmKitTui T. &umo]f tTratvov S uuro aruKu, 3-£g«^««ac ttuxu, Obscrvanc©

was the price of his meal : and he paid too dear for
one that gave his birth-right for it; but he that ex-
changes his soul for it, knows not the vanity of his
purchase, nor the value of his loss. He that gains
the purchase and spoil of a kingdom, hath got that
which to all that are placed in heaven, or to a man
that were seated in the paths of the sun, seems but
like a spot in an eye, or a mathematical point, so with-
out vastness, that it seems to be without dimensions.

3j8 the foolish exchange. Serm. XVIII.

But he whose purchase is but his neighbour's field,
or a i^ew unjust acres, hath got that which is incon-
siderable, below the notice and description of the
map : for by such hierogljphical representuieuts
Socrates chid the vanity of a proud Athenian.

3. Although these premises may suffice to shew
that the supposed purchase is but vain, and that all
which men used really to obtain is less than trifles ;
yet even the possession of it, whatsoever it be, is not
mere and unmixt, but allayed with sorrow and unea-
siness : the gain hath but enlarged his appetite, and,
like a draught to an hydro'pick person, hath enraged
his thirst ; and still that which he hath not is infinite-
ly bigger than what he hath, since the first en-
largement of his purchase was not to satisfy necessi-
ty, but his passion, his lust or his avarice, his pride
or his revenge ; these things cease not by their fuel,
but their flames grow bigger, and the capacities are
stretched, and they want more than they did at first.
For who wants most, he that wants five pound, or
he that wants five thousand ? And supposing a man
naturally supported and provided foi', in the dispen-
sations of nature there is no dilference, but that the
poor hath enough to fill his belly, and the rich man
can never have enough to fill his eye. The poor
man's wants are no greater than what may be sup-
plied by charity ; and the rich man's wants are so
big, that none but princes can relieve them ; and they
are left to all the temptations of great vices and
huge cares to make their reparation.

Dives egct gommis, Ccrcali miinpro pauper :
Sed cum egeaiit ambo, pauper egeiis minus est.'^-

If the greatness of the world's possessions produce
such fruits, vexation, and care, and want; the ambi-

* The miser starves, the poor with bread's unblest,
Tho' both are poor, the beggar fares the best. A.

Serm. XVIII. the foolish exchange. 359

tious requiring of great estates is but like the selling
of a fountain to buy a fever, a parting with content to
buy necessity, and the purchase of an unhandsome
condition at the price of infelicity.

4. He that enjoys a great portion of this world
hath most commonly the allay of some great cross,
which although God designs in mercy, to wean liis
affections from the world, and for the abstracting
them from sordid adherenccs and cohabitation, to
make his eyes like stars, to fix them in the orbs of
heaven and the regions of felicity ; yet they are an
inseparable appendant and condition of humanity.
Solomon observed the vanity of some persons, that
heaped up great riches for their heirs, and yet knew
not ivhcther a ivise man or a fool should possess them ;
this is a great evil under the sun. And if we observe
the great crosses many times God permits in great
families, as discontent in marriages, artificial or na-
tural bastardies, a society of man and wife like the
conjunction of two politicks, full of state and ceremo-
ny and design, but empty of those sweet caresses,
and natural hearty complications and endearments,
usual in meaner and innocent persons ; the perpetual
sickness, fullness of diet, fear of dying, the abuse of
flatterers, the trouble and noise of company, the te-
dious ofTiciousness of impertinent and ceremonious
visits, the declension of estate, the sadness of spirit,
the notoriousness of those dishonours which the
meanness of lower persons conceals, but their emi-
nency makes as visible as the spots in the moon's
face ; we should find him to be most happy that hath
most of wisdom and least of the world, because he
only hath the least danger and the most security.

5. And lastly, his soul so gets nothing that wins
all this world, if he loses his soul, that it is ten to one
but he that gets the one, therefore shall lose the
«ther : for to a great and opulent fortune, sin is s©

860 THE FOOLISH EXCHAWGE. jVerWt. XVIH'

adherent and insinuating, that it comes to him in the
nature of civility. It is a sad sight to see a great
personage undertake an action passionately and upon
great interest; and let him manage it as indiscreet-
ly, let the whole design be unjust, let it be acted
•with ail the malice and impotency in the world, he
shall have enough to tell him that he proceeds wise-
ly enough, to be servants of his interest, and promo-
ters of his sin, instruments of his malice, and actors
of revenge. But which of all his relatives shall dare
to tell him of his indiscretion, of his rage, and of his
folly ? He had need be a bold man and a severe per-
son <hat shall tell him of his danger, and that he is
in a direct progress towards hell. And indeed such
personages have been so long nourished up in soft-
ness, and flattery, and effeminacy, that too often
theniselves are impatient of a monitor, arxl think
the charity and duty of a modest reprehension to be
a rudeness and incivility. That prince is a wise man
that loves to have it otherwise : and certainly it is a
strange civility and dutifulness in friends and rela-
tives, to suffer him to go to hell uncontrolled, rather
than to seem unmannerly towards a great sinner.
But certainly this is none of the least infelicities of
them who are lords of the world, and masters of
great possessions.

I omit to speak of the habitual intemperance which
is too commonly annexed to festival and delicious
tables, where there is no other measure or restraint
upon the appetite, but its fulness and satiety, and
when it cannot or dare not eat more. Oftentimes it
happens, that the intemperance of a poor table is
more temperate and hath less of luxury in it than
the temperance of a rich. To this are consequent
all the evil accidents and effects of fulness, pride,
lust, wantonness, softnesses of disposition, and di^^so-
lution of manners, huge talking, imperiousness, de-

Serm. XVIII. the fooli8h bxchancb. 861

spite and contempt of poor persons : and at the best,
it is a great temptation for a man to have in his power
whatsoever he can have in his sensual desires. Who
then shall check his voracity, or calm his revenge,
or allay his pride, or mortify his lust, or humble his
spiri.t? It is like as when a lustful, young and tempt-
ed person lives perpetually with his amorous and
delicious mistress ; if he scapes burning, that is inflam-
ed from within and set on lire from without, it is a
greater miracle than the escaping from the flames
of the furnace by the three children of the captivity.
And just such a thing is the possession of the world,
it furnishes us with abilities to sin and opportunities
of ruin, and it makes us to dwell with poisons, and
danirers, and enemies.

And although the grace of God is sufficient to
great personages and masters of the world, and that
it is possible for a young man to be tied upon a bed
of flowers, and fastened by the arms and band of a
courtesan, and tempted wantonly, and yet to escape
the danger and the crime, and to triumph gloriously;
(for so St. Hierome reports ot a son of the king of
JVicomedia ;) and riches and a free fortune are de-
signed by God to be a mercy, and an opportunity of
doing noble things and excellent charity, and exact
justice, and to protect innocence, and to defend op-
pressed people: yet it is a mercy mixt with much
danger; yea it is like the present of a whole vintage
to a man in a hectick fever ; he will be shrewdly
tempted to drink of it, and if he does, he is inflamed,
and may chance to die with the kindness. Happy
are those persons who use the world, and abuse it
not, who possess a part of it, and love it for no other
ends but for necessities of nature, and conveniences
of person, and discharge of all their duty and the
offices of religion, and charity to Christ, and all
Christ's members. But since he that hath all the

vor.. If. 47

363 THE FOOLISH ExcHANGB. Serm. XVIIL

world cannot command Nature to do him one office
extraordinary, and enjoys the best part but in com-
mon with the poorest man in the world, and can use
no more of it but according to a limited and a very
narrow capacity, and whatsoever he can use or pos-
sess cannot outweigh the present pressure of a sharp
disease, nor can it at all give him content, without
which there can be nothing of felicity ; since a prince
in the matter of using the world differs nothing from
his subjects, but in mere accidents and circumstan-
ces, aild yet these very many trifling differences are
not to be obtained but by so mucli labour and care,
so great expense of time and trouble, that the pos-
session will not pay thus much of the price; and
after all this, the man may die two hours after he
hath made his troublesome, and expensive purchase,
and is certain not to enjoy it long; add to this last,
that most men get so little of the world that it is
altogether of a trifling and inconsiderable interest;
that they who have the most of this world have
the most of that but in title, and in supreme rights
and reserved privileges, the real use descending
upon others to more substantial purposes ; that the
possession of this trifle is mixed with sorrow upon
other accidents, and is allayed with fear, and that
the greatness of mens' possessions Increases their
thirst, and enlarges their wants, by swelling their
capacity ; and, above all, is of so great danger to
a man's virtue, that a great fortune and a very
great virtue are not always observed to grow to-
gether: he that observes all this, and much more he
may observe, will see that he that gains the whole
world hath made no such great bargain of it, al-
though he had it for nothing, but the necessary un-
avoidable troubles in getting it. But how great a
folly is it to buy so great a trouble, so great a vani-
ty, with the loss of our precious souls, remains to
}c considered in the following parts of the text.

&'«r/}}. XIX. THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. n 863

SERMON XIX.

PART II.

jiND losc his own soul? oi\ ivhat shall a man give in
exchanoe for his soul ? And now the question is final-
ly stated, and the dispute is concerning the sum of
affairs.

De morte hoininis nulla est cunctatio longa.*

And therefore when the soul is at stake, not for
its temporal, but for its eternal interest, it is not
good to be hasty in determining, without taking just
measures of the exchange. Solomon had the good
things of the world actually in possession, and he
tried them at the touch-stone of prudence and natu-
ral value, and found them allayed with vanity and im-
perfection ; and we that see them iceighed in the ba-
lance of the sanctuary^ and ti ied by the touch-stone of
the spirit, find them not only light and unprofitable,
but pungent and dolorous. But now we are to con-
sider what it is tliat men part with and lose, when
with passion and impotency they get the world ; and
that will present the bargain to be a huge infelicity.
And this f observe to be intimated in the word, lose.
For he that gives gold for cloth, or precious stones
for bread, serves his needs of natme, and loses noth-
ing by it; and the merchant that found a pearl of
great price, and sold all that he had to make the

* Short and uncertain is the life of man. A.

364 VME FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Scrm. XIX

purchase of it, made a good venlure, he was no
loser: but here the case is otherwise; when a man
gains the whole world, and his soul goes in the ex-
change, he hath not done like a mercliant, but like
a child or prodigal ; he hath given himself away, he
hath lost all that can distinguish him from a slave or
miserable person, he loses his soul in the exchange.
For the soul of a man all the world cannot be a just
price ; a man may lose it, or throw it away, but he
can never make a good i;xchange when he parts
with this jewel ; and therefore our blessed Saviour
rarely well expresses it by (jv^ioi/v, which is fully op-
posed to Kf^fou gain ; it is such an ill market a man
makes, as if he should proclaim his riches and goods
vendible for a garland of thistles, decked and trimmed
Tjp with the stinking poppy.

But we shall better understand the nature of this
bargain, if we consider the soul that is exchanged,
"what it is in itself, in order, not of nature, but to felici-
ty and the capacities of joy ; secondly, what price
the Son of God payed for it ; and thirdly, what it is
to lose it ; that is, what miseries and tortures are
signified by losing a soul.

1. First, if we consider what the soul is in its own
capacity to happiness, we shall find it to be an excel-
lency greater than thesun, of an angelical substance,
sister to a cherub, an image of the divinity, and the
great argument of that mercy whereby God did dis-
tinguish us from the lower form of beasts, and trees,
and minerals.

For so it was the scripture affirms, that, God made
man after his own image, that is, secundum illam ima-
ginem et ideam quwn concepit ipse ; not according to
the likeness of any of those creatures which were
pre-existent to man's production, not according to anj
of those images or ideas whereby God created the
heavens and the earth ; but by a ncAv form, to dis-

Semi. XIX. THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. 365

tinguish him from all other substances; he made him
by -dnew iJeu of his own, by an uncreated exemplar.
And besides that this was a donation of inteiliaent
faculties, such as we understand to be perfect and es-
sential, or rather the essence of God ; it is also a
designation of him to a glorious irhmortalitj, and
communication of the rays and rejections of his own
essential felicities.

But the soul is all that whereby we may be, and
without which we cannot be hapj)V. It is not the
eye that sees the beauties of the heaven, nor the ear
that hears the sweetness of musick, or the glad ti-
dings of a prosperous accident, but the soul that jer-
ceives all the relishes of sensual and intellectual
perfections; and the more noble and excellent the
soul is, the greater and more savoury are its percep-
tions. And if a child beholds the rich ermine, oi the
diamonds of a starry night, or the order of the world,
or hears the discourses of an apostle ; because he
makes no reflex acts upon himself, and sees not that
he sees, he can have but the pleasure of a fool, or the
deliciousness of a mule. But ahhough the reflection
of its own acts be a rare instrument of pleasure or
pain respectively ; yet the soul's excellerice is upon
the same reason not perceived by us, by which the
sapidness of pleasant things of nature are not under-
stood by a child ; even because the soul cannot re-
flect far enough. For as the sun, which is the foun-
tain of light and heat, makes violent and direct
emissions of his rays from himself, but reflects them
no farther than to the bottom of a cloud, or the lowest
imaginary circle of the middle region, and therefore
receives not a duplicate of his own heat: so is the
soul of man, it reflects upon its own inferiour
actions of particular sense, or general understand-
ing: but because it knows little of" its own nature,
the manners of vohtion, the immediate instruments

366 . THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Semi. XIX.

of understanding, the way how it comes to medi-
tate ; and cannot discern how a sudden thought
arrives, or the solution of a doubt not depending
upon preceding premises ; therefore above half its
pleasures are abated, and its own worth less un-
derstood: and possibly it is the better it is so.
If the elephant knew his strength, or the horse
the vigorousness of his own spirit, they would be
as rebellious against their rulers as unreasonable
men against government: nay the angels themselves,
because their light reflected home to their orbs, and
they understood all the secrets of their own perfec-
tion, they grew vertiginous, and fell from the bat-
tlements of heaven. But the excellence of a human
soul shall then be truly understood, when the reflec-
tion will make no distraction of our faculties, nor en-
kindle any irregular fires; when we may understand
ourselves without danger.

In the mean this consideration is gone high
enough, when we understand the soul of a man to
be so excellently perfect, that we cannot understand
how excellently perfect it is : that being the best
way of expressing our conceptions of God himself.
And therefore I shall not need by distinct discourses,
to represent that the will of man is the last resort
and sanctuary of true pleasure, which in its formali-
ty can be nothing else but a conformity of posses-
sion or of being to the will ; that the understanding,
being the channel and conveyance of the noblest
perceptions, feeds upon pleasures in all its propor-
tionate acts, and unless it be disturbed by interven-
ing sins and remembrances derived hence, keeps a
perpetual festival; that the passions are every of
them fitted with an object, in which they rest
as in their centre ; that they have such delight in
these their proper objects, that too often they ven-
ture a damnation rather than quit their interest an«l

Serm. XIX. the foolish exchange. 867

possession. But yet fioni tliese conslderaflons it
would follow, that to lose a soul, wdicli is desi-^n-
ed to be an immense sea of pleasure, even in its na-
tural capacities, is to lose all that whereby a man
can possibly be, or be supposed, happy. And so
much the rather is this understood to be an insup-
portable calamity, because losing a soul in this sense
IS not a mere piivation of those felicities of which a
soul is naturally designed to be a partaker, but it is
an investing it with contrary objects and cross effects,
and dolorous perceptions; for the will, if it misses
its desires, is afflicted ; and the undci standing, when it
ceases to be ennobled with excellent things, is made
ignorant as a swine, dull as the foot of a rock; and
the affections are in the destitution of their perfective
actions made tumultuous, vexed and discomposed, to
the height of rage and violence. But this is but the
«5;^-« itj-tvm, the beginning of those throes which end not
but in eternal infelicity.

2. Secondly, If we consider the price that the Son
of God payed for the redemption of a soul, we shall
better estimate of it than from the weak discourses
of our imperfect and unlearned philosophy : not the
spoil of rich provinces, not the estimate of kingdoms,
not the price of Cleopatra's draught, not any thing
that was corruptible or perishing; for that which
could not one minute retard the term of its own
natural dissolution, could not be a price for the re-
demption of one perishing soul. And if we list but
to remember, and then consider, that a miserable,
lost and accursed soul, does so infinitely undervalue
and disrelisii all the goods and riches that this world
doats on, that he hath no more gust in them, or
pleasure, than the fox hath in eating a turf; that if
he could be imagined to be the lord of ien thousand
worlds, he vvojid give them all for any shadow of
hope of a possibihty of returning to life again; that

368 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Stmi. XlX*

Dives in hell would have willingly gone on an em-
bassy to his fatlier's house, that he might have been
quit a iitrlc from his flames, and on that condition
would have given Lazarus the fee-simple of all hi«
teiniDoral possessions, though he had once denied to
relieve him witli the superfluities of his table: we
shall soon confess that a moment of time is no good
exc'iancre for an etertsity of duration; and a light
unpiolitabie possession is not to be put in the balance
a^'^aifjst a soul, which is the glory of the creation ; a
soul, with whom God had made a contract, and con-
tracted excellent relations, it being one of God's
appellatives, that he is the lover of the souls.

When God made a soul, it was only Faciamus hO'
minem ad ima^iicm nostram ; he spake the word, and
it was done : but when man had lost this soul which
the spirit of God breathed in him, it was not so soon
recovered. It is like the resurrection, which hath
troubled the faith of many, who are more apt to be-
lieve that God made a man from nothing, than that
he can return a man from dust and corruption : but
for this resurrection of the soul, for the re-implacing
the divine image, for the rescuing it from the devil's
power, for the re-entitling it to the kingdoms of
grace and glory, God did a greater work than the
creation: he was fain to contract divinity to a span,
to send a person to die for us who of himself could
not die, and was constrained to use rare and myste-
rious arts to make him capable of dying; he pre-
pared a person instrumental to his purpose, by send-
in >• his Son from his owr» bosom, a person both God
and man, an enigma to all nations, and to all sciences;
one that ruled over all the angels, that walked upon
the pavements of heaven, whose feet were clothed
with stars, whose eyes were brighter than the sun,
whose voice is louder than thunder, whose under-
standing is larger than that infinite space which we

Serm. XIX. the foolish ExeHANSE. 369

imagine in the uncircurascribed distance beyond the
first orb of heaven; a person to whom felicity was
as essential as life to God ; this was the only person
that was desifrned in the eternal decrees of tlie
divine predestination to pay tlie price of a soul, to
ransom us from death; less than tliis person could
not do it. For although a soul in its essence is
finite^ yet there were raany infmites which were inci-
dent and annexed to the condition of lost souls : for
all which because provision was to be made, nothing
less than an infinite excellence could satisfy for a soul
who was lost to infinite and eternal ages^ who was to
be atllicted with insnpportahle and undetermined^ that
is, next to infinite pains ; who was to bear the load
of an infinite ano'er from the provocation of an eternal
God. And yet if it be possible that infinite can re-
ceive degrees, this is but one half of the abyss, and
I think the lesser: for tliat this person who was God
eternal, should be lessened in all his appearances to
a span, to the little dimensions of a man, and that he
should really become very contemptibly little, al-
though at the same time he was infinitely and unal-
terably great ; that is, essential^ natural and necessary
felicity should turn into an intolerable, violent and
immense calamity to his person, that this great God
should not be admitted to pay the price of our re-
demption, unless he would suffer that horrid misery
•which that lost soul should suffer; as it represents
the glories of his goodness who used such rare and
admirable instruments in actuating the desisrns of his
mercy, so it shews our condition to have been very
desperate, and our loss invaluable.

A soul in God's account is valued at the price of
the blood, and shame, and tortures of the Son of
God ; and yet we throw it au'av for the exchange of
sins that a man naturally is ashamed to own ; we
lose it for the pleasure, the sottish, beastly pleasurq

VOL. II. 48

*37(Ji THfj FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Serm, XIX^

of a night. I need not say, we lose our soul to save*
our lives: for tliough that was our blessed Saviour's
instance of the great unreasonableness of men, who
hy saving their lives, lose them^ that is, in the great
■account of doomsday ; though this, I say, be ex-
tremely unreasonable, yet theie is something to be
pretended in the bargain ; nothing to excuse him
with God, but something in the accounts of timo-
rous men: but to lose our souls with swearing,
that unprofitable, dishonourable, and unpleasant
vice ; to lose our souls with disobedience or rebel-
lion, a vice that brings a curse and danger all the
way in this life ; to lose our souls with drunkenness,
a vice which is painful and sickly in the very acting
it, which hastens our damnation by shortening our
lives ; are instances fit to be put in the stories of
fools and madmen. And all vice is a degree of the
same unreasonableness; the most splendid tempta-
tion being nothing but a pretty well weaved fallacy,
a mere trick, a sophism, and a cheating and abus-
ing the understanding. But that Avhich I consider
here, is, that it is an affront and contradiction to the
wisdom of God, that we should so slight and under-
value a soul, in which our iiiterest is so concerned ;
a soul, which he who made it, and who delighted
not to see it lost, did account a fit purchase to be
made by the exchange of his Son, the eternal Son of
God. To which also I add this additional account,
that a soul is so greatly valued by God, that we are
not to venture the los^ of it to save all the world.
For therefore whosoever should commit a sin to
save kingdoms from perishing ; or if the case could
be put, that all the good men, and good causes, and
good things in this world were to be destroyed by
tyranny, and it were in our power by peijury to
»ave all these ; that doing this sin would be so far
from hallowing the crime, that it were to offer t»

Serm. XlX. the foolish exchaNgEi, 371

God a sacrifice of what he most hates, and to serve
him with swine's blood : and the rescuing all these
from a tyrant or a hangman cculd not be pleasing to
God iij)on those terms, because a soul is lost by it,
wiiich is in itself a greater loss and misery than all
the evils in the world put together can outbalance,
and a loss of that thinji; for which Christ g-ave his
blood a price. Persecutions and temporal death in
holy men, and in a just cause, are but seeming evils,
and therefore not to be brought off with the loss of a
soul, which is a real, but an intolerable calamity : and
if God for his own sake would not have all the world
saved by sin, that is, by the hazarding of a soul ; we
should do well for our own sakes not to lose a soul
for trifles, for things that make us here to be misera-
ble, and even here also to be ashamed.

But it maybe, some natures or some understand-
ings care not for all this ; therefore I proceed to
the third and most material consideration as to us ;
and I consider what it is to lose a soul. Which Hiero^

clcS thus explicates, **< o'^v t-m a^at^aTw ous-w -^*v«T(/u |Mojg«c fydraAA^
;^i/v, cu T«ac to y-n uvitt ix-^cta-u, blxxa tji tov iv itvai aToa-lairs/, Jlfl tnimOTtCll

substance can die, not by ceasing to 6c, but by losing all
being tvell, by becoming miserable. And it is re-
markable, when our blessed Saviour gave us cau-
tion that we should not fear them that can kill the body
only, but fear him (he says not that can kill the soul,

but Tov ifvvdifAivov K*/ 4"/^'"' *"" ""ai/ust. etTTooKia-ui IV yimn,) tfiat tS aOl&

to destroy the body and soul in hell;* which word sig-
nifieth not death, but tortures. For some have
chosen death for sanctuary, and fled to it to avoid in-
tolerable shame, to give a period to the sense of
a sharp grief, or to cure the earthquakes of fear ;
and the damned perishing souls shall wish for death
with a desire impatient as their calamity : but this

* Matth. xix. 28.

3?2 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Serm. XIX4

shall be denied them, because death were a dehver-
ance, a mercy, and a pleasure, of which these mi-
serable peisons must despair for ever.

I shall not need to represent to your considera-
tions those expressions of scripture which the Holy
Ghost hath set down, to repiesent to our capacities
the greatness of this perishing, choosing such circum-
stances of character as were then usual in the world,
and which are dreadful to our understanding as
any thing. Hell fire is the common expression ;
for the eastern nations accounted burnings the great-
est of these miserable punishments; and burning
malefactors was frequent. Brimstone and Jire, so
St. John, Revel, xiv, 10. calls the state of punishment,,
prepared for the devil and all his servants ; he added
the circumstance of brimstone, for by this time the
devil had taught the world more ingenious pains,
and himself was newly escaped out of boiling oil
and brimstone, and such bituminous matter; and the
spirit of God knew right well the worst expression
was not bad enough. Skotoi; ei^jgof, so our blessed
Saviour calls it the outer darkness : that is, not only
an abjection from the beatifick regions, where God
and his angels and his saints dwell for ever, but
then there is a positive state of misery expressed by
darkness, ^o?ov ^oToyc. as two apostles, St. Ir'eter and St.
Jude, call it, the blackness of darkness for ever. In
which although it is certain that God, whose justice
there rules, will inflict but just so much as our sins
deserve, and not superadd degrees of undeserved
misery, as he does to the saints of glory, (for God
gives to blessed souls in heaven more, infinitely more,
than all their good works could possibly deserve,
and therefore their glory is infinitely bigger glory
than the pains of hell are great pains ;) yet because
God's justice in hell rules alone, without the allays and
sweeter abatements of mercy, they shall have pure

Serm. XIX. the foolish exchange. 373

and unmingled misery ; no pleasant thought to re-
fresh their weariness, no comfort in another accident
to alleviate their pleasures, no waters to cool their
flames. But because when there is a great calamity
upon a man, every such man thinks himself the
most miserable ; and though there are great degrees
of pain in hell, yet there are none perceived by him
that thinks he suffers the greatest; it follows, that
every man that loses his soul in this darkness is mi-
serable beyond all those expressions, which the tor-
tures of this world could furnish to the writers of
the holy scripture.

But I sliall choose to represent this consideration
in that expression of our blessed Saviour, Jllark ix.
44. which himself took out of the prophet Isaiah Ixvi.
24. Where the worm dieth not., and the fire is not quench'
ed. This is the awiiMia; fg).At««c spoken of by Daniel
the prophet: Foralthougii this expression was a pre-
diction of that horrid calamity and abscission of the
Jewish nation, when God poured out a full vial of
his wrath upon the crucifiers of his Son, and that
this, which was the greatest calamity which ever did
or ever shall happen to a nation, Christ with
great reason took to describe the calamity of accurs-
ed souls, as being the greatest instance to signify
the greatest torment: yet we must observe that the
diiference of each state, makes the same words in
the several cases to be of iniinite distinction. The
worm stuck close to the Jewish nation, and the fire
of God's wrath flamed out till they were consumed
with a great and unheard of destruction, till many
millions did die accursedly, and the small remnant
became vagabonds, and were reserved, like broken
pieces after the storm, to shew the greatness of the
storm and misery of the shipwreck : but then this
being translated to sigrjify the state of accursed souls^
whose dying is a continual perishing, who cannot

374 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. iSieJ^m. XlX*

cease to be, it must mean an eternity of duration, in
a proper and natural signification.

And that we may understand it fully, observe the
place in fsa. xxxiv. 8, &c. The prophet prophecies
of the great destruction o^ Jerusalem for all her great
iniquities : It is the day of the LorcVs vengeance^ and
the year of recompenses for the controversy of Sion.
And the streams thereof shalt be turned into pitch-, and
the dust thereof into brimstone., and the land thereof
shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched
night nor day., the smoke thereof shall go up for ever ;
from generation to generation it shall lie waste., none
shall pass through it for ever and ever. This is the
final destruction of the nation; but this destruction
shall have an end, because the nation shall end, and
the anger also shall end in its own period, even then
when God shall call the Jews into the common inhe-
ritance with the Gentiles, and all become the sons of
God, And this also was the period of their icorm, as
it is of their fre, the fire of the divine vengeance upon
the nation ; which was not to be extinguished till
they were destroyed, as we see it come to pass. And
thus also in St. Jude, the angels icho kept not their first
state are said to be reserved by God in everlasting
chains under darkness : which word everlastinic sisfni-
fies not absohjtely to eternity, but to the utmost end
of that period : for so it follows, unto the judgment of
the great day., that everlasting lasts no longer. And
in ver. 7. the word eternal is just so used. The men
of Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire ; that is, of a
fire which burned till they were quite destroyed,
and the cities and the country with an irreparable
ruin, never to be rebuilt and re-inhabited as long
as this world continues. The effect of which ob-
servation is this :

f^erm. XIX. tmh foolish' bxchangk. 376

That those words, for ever^ everlastings eternal^ the
never dying norm, the fire unqucnchahle^ being words
borrowed by our blessed Saviour and his apostles
from the style of the Old Testament, must have a
jsiji^nification just proportionable to tlie state in which
thoy signify : so that as this worm, when it signifies a
temporal infliction, means a worm that never ceases
giving torment till the body is consumed ; so when
it is translated to an immortal state, it must signify
as much in that proportion : that eternal^ that ever-
lastinfj; hath no end at all; because the soul cannot
be killed in the natural sense, but is made miserable
and perishing for ever : that is, the ivorm shall not die
so long as the soul shall be unconsuuied, the fire
shall not be quenched till the period of an immortal
nature comes. And that this shall be absolutely for
ever without any restriction, appears unanswerable
in this, because the same for ever that is for the
blessed souls, the same for ever is for the accursed
souls : but the blessed souls, that die in the Lord^
henceforth shall die no more^ death hath no power over
them; for death is destroyed^ it is swallowed up in
victory^ (saith St. Paul) and there shall be no more
deaths saith St. John, Rev. xxi. 4. So that because
for eve- hath no end, till the thing or the duration
itself have end, in the same sense in which the saints
and angels give glory to God for ever, in the same
sense the lost souls shall suffer the evils of their sad
inheritance : and since after this death of nature,
which is a separation of soul and body, there re-*
mains no more death, but this second death, this eter-
nal perishing of miserable accursed souls, whose
duration must be eternal ; it follows that the worm of
conscience, and the unquenchable fire of hell, have no
period at all, but shall last as long as God lasts, or
the measures of a proper eternity; that they who
provoke God to wrath, by their base, unreaspnable

376 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Semi. XlX^

and sottish practices, may know what their portion
shall be in the everlasting habitations. And yet
suppose that Orifreii's opinion had been true, and
that accursed souls should have ease and a period
to their tortures after a tiiousand years ; 1 pray, let
it be considered, whether it be not a great madness
to choose the pleasures or the wealth of a few years
here, with trouble, with danger, with uncertainty,
with labour, with intervals of sickness; and for this
to endure the flames of hell for a thousand years
together. The pleasures of the world no man can
have for a hundred years, and no man hath pleasure
a hundred days together, but he hath some trouble
intervening, or at least a weariness and a loathing
of the pleasure: and therefore to endure insufferable
calamities (suppose it be) for a hundred years, with-
out any interruption, without so much comfort as the
light of a small candle, or a drop of water amounts
to in a fever, it is a bargain to be made by no man
that loves himself, or is not in love with infinite
affliction.

If a man were condemned but to lie still, or to lie
in bed in one posture, without turning, for seven
years together, would not he buy it off with the loss
of all his estate? If a man were to be put upon the
rack for every day for three months together, (sup-
pose him able to live so long) what would he do to
be quit of his torture? Would any man curse the
king to his face, if he were sure to have both his
hands burnt oif, and to be toimented with torments
three years together ? Would any man in his wits
accept of a hundred pounds a year for forty years,
if he were sure to be tormented in the fire for the
next hundred years together without intermission ?
Think then what a thousand years signify ; ten ages,
the age of two empires : but this account, I must tell
you, IS infinitely short, though 1 thus discourse to

jSVrm. XIX. the foolish exchange. 37T

you how groat fools Avicked men are, though this
opinion should be true. A goodly comfort surely !
that for two or three years* sottish pleasure, a man
shall be infinitely tormented but for a tliouscmd years.
But then when we cast up the minutes, and years,
and ages of eternity, the consideration itself is a
great hell to those persons who, by their evil lives,
are consigned to such sad and miserable portions.

A thousand years is a long Avhilc to be in torment;
we find a fever of one and twenty days to be like an
age in length: but when the duration of an intole-
rable misery is lor ever in the height, and for ever
beginning, aid ten thousand years have spent no
part of its term, but it makes a perpetual efflux, and
is like the centre of a circle, which ever transmits
lines to the circumference; this is a consideration so
sad, that the horrour of it, and the reflection upon its
abode and duration, make a great part of the hell :
for hell could not be hell without the despair of
accursed souls; for any hope Avere a refieshment,
and a drop o^ water, which would help to allay
those flames, which, as they burn intolerably, so
they must burn for ever.

And I desire you to consider, that although the
scripture uses the word^rc, to express the tormciits
of accursed souls, yet fire can no more equal the
pangs of hell than it can torment an immaterial sub-
stance ; the pains of perishing souls being as much
more afflictive than the smart of fire, as the smart of
fire is troublesome beyond the softness of Persian
carpets, or the sensuality of the Asian luxury. For
the pains of hell, and the perishing or losing the
soul, is, to sulfer the wrath of God : ku.i y<,g i e^Q if^m ttv^
KtTAx-xKKTKov, our God is a consuming Ji re, that is, the fire
of hell. When God takes away all comfort froni
us, nothing to support our spirit is left us; when
sorrow is our food, and tears our drink ; when it fs

VOL. II. 49

SfS THIS FOOLISH EXCHANGB. Sevm. XIX.

eternal night without sun, or star, or lamp, or sleep;
when we burn with fire without light, that is, are
loaden with sadness without remedy or hope of ease;
and that this wrath is to be expressed and to fall
upon lis in spiritual, immaterial, but most accursed,
most pungent and dolorous emanations ; then we
feel what it is to lose a soul.

We may guess at it by the terrours of a guilty con-
science, those verbera et laniatus^ those secret lash-
ings and whips of the exterminating angel, those
thorns in the soul, when a man is haunted by an evil
spirit; those butcheries which the soul of a tyrant,
or a violent or a vicious person, when he falls into
fear or any calamity, does feel, are the infinite argu-
ments, that hell, which is the consummation of the
torment of conscience, just as manhood is the con-
summation of infancy, or as glory is the perfection
of grace, is an affliction greater than the bulk of
heaven and earth; for there it is that God pours out
the treasures of his wrath, and empties the whole
magazine of thunderbolts, and all the armoury of God
is employed, not in the chastising, but in the torment-
ing of a perishing soul. Lucianhrm^Qm Radaman-
thus telling the poor wandering souls upon the banks

01 jbjlyStUin^ 'Ottoto. av n; Cjum srovj'goc t^yAo-inn.! m^i tov /Sisv, »a6' tx.«rTor
«yT*v ct<p3Lv>t (rTify.-iint iron tou; -{vxyQ w«g/<j)«gs(, FoT eVCrif WlCKcdnCSS

that any man commits in his life^ when he comes to
hell, he hath stamped upon his soul an invisible brand
and mark of torment, and this begins here, and is not
cancelled by death, but there is enlarged by the great-
ness of infinite^ and the abodes of eternity. How great
these torments of conscience are here, let any man im-
agine that can but understand what despair means, de-
spair upon just reason : let it be what it will, no mise-
ry can be greater than despair. And because I hope
none here have felt those horrours of an evil conscience
which are consignations to eternity, you may please to
learn it by your own reason, or else by the sad in-

Serm. XIX. the foolish excmanse. 379

stances of story. It is reported of Petrus Ilosuanus^
a Poloniari schoolmaster, that having read some ill-
nianaged discouises of absolute decrees and div ine
reprobation, began to be fantastick and nielanchohck,
and apprehensive that he might be one ot those ma-
ny whom God had decreed ior hell from all eternity.
From possible to probable, from probable to certain,
the temptation soon carried him : and when he once
began to believe himself to be a person inevitably
perishing, it is not possible to understand perfectly
■what infinite fears, and agonies, and despairs, what
tremblings, what horrours, what contusion and
amazement the poor man felt within him, to consid-
er that he was to be tormented extremely without
remedy even to eternal ages. This in a short con-
tinuance grew insutferable, and prevailed upon him
so far, that he hanged himself, and left an account
of it to this purpose in writing in his study ; I am
gone from hence to the dames of hell, and have
forced my way thither, being impatient to try what
those great torments are, which here I have feared
with an insupportable amazement. This instance
may suffice to shew what it is to lose a soul. But
I will take off from this sad discourse ; only I shall
crave your attention to a word of exhortation.

That you take care, lest for the purchase of a
little, trifling, inconsiderable portion of the world,
you come into this place and state of torment. Al-
though Homer was pleased to compliment the beau-
ty of Helena to such a height, as to say it was a
sufficient price for all the evils which the Greeks
and Trojans suffered in ten years ;

'Ow nfJ.KTit Tgecaj KAi vJityyifAtSd.; ^ AyjtiW(;

To/« J" cty.pi yuvAim voxvv ;^?ovov aKyect. tFAa-)(tt)i.*

* Horn, iliad III. 1.56.

No wonder such celestial charms

For nine long years have set tlie world in arms. Pope,

*ioO THE FOOLTSFI EXCHANGE. Semi. XIX.

Yet it was a more reasonable conjecture of Herodo-
tus, that, during the ten years^ siege of Trof/, Helena,
for whom the Greeks fought, was in Eifijpf, not in
the city; because it was unimaginable but the Tro--
jam would have thrown her over the walls, rather
than for the sake of such a triHe have endured so
great calamities. We are more sottish than the
Trojans, if we retain our Helena^ any one beloved
lust, a painted devil, any sugared temptation ; with
not the hazard, but the certainty of havinp; such hor-
rid miseries, such invaluable losses. And certainly, it
is a strange stupidity of spirit tiiat can sleep in the
midst of such thunder ; when God speaks from hea-
ven witli his loudest voice, and draws aside his cur-
tain, and shews his arsenal and his armoury, full of
arrows steeled with wratli, headed, and pointed, and
hardened with vengeance, still to snatch at those
arrows, if they come but in the retinue of a rich for-
tune or a vain mistress, if they wait but upon plea-
sure or profit, or in the rear of an ambitious design.

But let not us have such a hardiness against the
threats and representments of the divine vengeance,
as to take the little imposts and revenues of the
world, and stand in defiance against God and tha
fears of hell; unless we have a charm that we can
be 4og«To/ TM xgm, mvisible to the judge of heaven and
earth, and arc impregnable against, or are sure we
shall be insensible of, the miseries of a perishing
soul.

There is a sort of men, wlio, because they will be
vicious and atheistical in their lives, have no way to
go on with any plaisance and without huge distur-
bances, but by being also atheistical in their opi-
nions, and to beheve that the story of hell is but a
bugbear to alfright children and fools, easy believing
people, to make them soft and apt for government
and designs of princes. And this is an opinion that

Serm. XIX. the foolish exchange. 381,

befriends none but impure and vicious persons. Oth-
ers there are, that beheve God to be ali mercy,
that he forgets his justice, believing that none sliall
perish witli so sad a ruin, if they do but at theii d( alh-
bed ask God forgiveness, and say they are sorry, but
yet continue then' impiety till their house be leady
to fall : being like the Circassians^ W'\\o&g genthnien
enter not in the church, till they be threescore years
old, that is, in eifjjjct, till by thci)- age they cannot
any longer use rapine; till then they hear service
at their vrindovvs, dividing unequally their life be-
tween sin and devotion, dedicating their youlh to
robbery, and their old age to a repentance without
restitution.

Our youth, and our manhood and old age, are all
of them due to God, and justice and nurcy are to
him equally essential ; and as this lifo is a time of
the possibilities of mercy, so to them that neglect it,
the next world shall be a state of pure and unmin-
gled justice.

Remember the fatal and decretorv sentence which
God hath passed upon all mankind, it is appointed
to all men once to die, and after death comes judgment.
And if any of us were certain to die next morning,
with what earnestness should we pray ? with what
hatred should we remember our sins ? with what
scorn should we look upon the licentious pleasures
of the world,'* Then nothing* could be welcome un-
to us but a prayer-book, no company but a comforter
and a guide of souls, no employment but repentance,
no passions but in order to religion, no kindness for a
lust that hath undone us. And if any of you have
been arrested with alarms of death, or been in heaity
fear of its approach, remember what thoughts and
designs then possessed you, how precious a soul was
then in your account, and w hat th:.n you would give
that you had despised the world, and done your duty

882 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. •SV/Wl. XIX.

to God and man, and lived a holy life. It will come
to that again, and we shall be in that condition, in
which we shall perfectly understand, that ail the
things and pleasures of the world are vain and un-
profitable and irksome, and that he only is a wise
man who secures the interest of his soul, though it be
with the loss of all this world, and his own life into
the bargain. When we are to depart this life, to go
to strange company and stranger places, and to an
unknown condition, then a holy conscience wi I be
the best security, the best possession; it will be a hor-
rour, that every friend we meet shall with triumph
upbraid to us the sottishness of our folly; Lo^ this
is the goodly change you have made ; you had your
good things in your life-time^ and how like you the por-
tion that is reserved to you for ever? The old Rab-
bins, those poets of religion, report of JMoses^ that
when the courtiers of Pharoah were sporting with
the child JUoses^ in the chamber oi Pharoah' s daugh-
ter, they presented to his choice an ingot of gold
in one hand, and a coal of fire in the other; and
that the child snatched at the coal, thrust it into
his mouth, and so singed and parched his tongue,
that he stammered ever after. And certainly it is
inhnitely more childish in us, for the glittering of the
small glow-worms and the charcoal of worldly pos-
sessions, to swallow the llames of hell greedily in our
choice : such a bit will produce a worse stammering
than Moses had : for so the accursed and lost souls
have their ugly and horrid dialect, they roar and
blaspheme^ hlasphcmeand roar ^ for ever. And suppose
God should now at this instant send the great arch-
angel with his trumpet to summon all the world to
judgment ; would not all this seem a notorious visible
truth, a truth which you will then wonder that every
man did not lay to his heart, and preserve there in
actual, pious and elTective consideration.'^ Let the

Serm. XIX. the foolish exchange. 883

trumpet of God perpetually sound in your ears,
Surgitemortui, et venite ad judicium : place yourselves
by meditation every day upon your death-bed. and
remember what thoughts shall then possess you;
and let such thoughts dwell in your understanding
for ever, and be the parent of all your resolutions
and actions. The doctors of the Jtivs report, that
when Jlbsalom hanged among the oaks by the hair of
the head, he seemed to see under him hell ofapino-
Wide ready to receive him; and he durst not cut off
the hair that entangled him, for fear he should fall
into the horrid lake whose portion is flames and tor-
ment, but chose to protract his miserable life a few
minutes in that pain of posture, and to abide the
stroke of his pursuing enemies ; his condition was
sad when his arts of remedy were so vain.

T« ya.^ /Sperm uv ffov kikuq /utfjif) /uimv

Qm<TKiiv 0 fxtXKetv tov ^ovou xfg/cc <f(gf(. Soph.*

A condemned man hath but small comfort to stay
the singing of a long psalm: it is the case of every
vicious person. Hell is wide open to every impeni-
tent persevering sinner, to ever unpurged person.

Noctes atque dies patet atri jamia Ditis.f

And although God hath lighted his candle, and
the lantern of his word and clearest revelations is
held out to us, that we can see hell in its worst co-
lours and most horrid representmcnts : yet we ruo
greedily after baubles into that precipice which swal-

* Since doomed to die, what boots a moment's respite.
Embittered by the miseries of life T

f Virg. Aeneid. vi. 127.
The Gates of Hell are open night and day.

384 THE FOOLISH EXCHANGE. Serm. XIX.

lows up the greatest part of mankind ; and then only
we begin to consider, when all consideration is fruit-
less.

He therefore is a huge fool, that heaps up riches,
that greedily pursues the world, and at the same
time (for so it must be) heaps up ivralh to himself
against the day of wrath; when sickness and death
arrest him, then they appear unprofitable, and him-
self extremely miserable: and if you would know
how great that misery is, you may take account of it
by those fearful words and killing rhetorick of scrip-
ture. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God; and. Who can dwell with the everlasting
burnings? That is. No patience can abide there
one hour, where they must dwell for ever.

SERMON XX.

OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE*

Matthew x. latter part op vee. 16.
Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

When our blessed Saviour entailed a law and a
condition of suJSerings, and promised a state of per-
secution to bis servants; and withal had charmed
them with the bands and unactive chains of so many
passive graces, that they should not be able to stir
against the violence of tyrants, or abate the edge of
axes, by any instrument but their own blood; being
sent forth as sheep among wolves., innocent and silent,
harmless and defenceless, certainly exposed to sor-
row, and uncertainly guarded in their persons; their
condition seemed nothing else but a designation to
slaughter : and when they were drawn into the folds
of the church, they were betrayed into the hands of
evil men, infinitely and unavoidably : and when aa
apostle invited a proselyte to come to Christ, it was
in effect a snare laid for his life, and he could neither
conceal his religion, nor hide his person, nor avoid a
captious question, nor deny his accusation, nor elude
VOL. iJ. 50

386 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Semi. XX.

the bloody arts of orators and informers, nor break
prisons, nor any thing but die. If the case stood just
thus, it was well eternity stood at the outer days of
our life, ready to receive such harmless people : but
surely there could be no art in the desis:n, no pitying
of human weaknesses, no complying with the condi-
tion of man, no allowances made for customs and
prejudices of the world, no inviting men by the things
of men, no turninj^ nature into religion ; but it was
all the way a direct violence, and an open prostitu-
tion of our lives, and a throwing away our fortune
into a sea of rashness and credulity. But therefore
God ordered the affairs and necessities of religion in
other ways, and to other purposes. Although God
bound our hands behind us, yet he did not tie our
understandings up : although we might not use our
swords, yet we might use our reason : we w^ere not
suffered to be violent, but we might avoid violence
by all the arts of prudence and innocence: if we did
take heed of sin, we might also take heed of men.
And because in all contentions between wii and vio-
lence, prudei^ce and rudeness, learning and the sword,
the strong hand took it first, and the strong head
possessed it last; the strong man first governed:
and the witty man succeeded him, and lasted lon-
ger; It came to pass, that the wisdom of the Father
hath so ordered it, that all his disciples should over-
come the power of the Roman legions by a wise reli-
gion ; and prudence and innocence should become the
mightiest guards ; and the Christian, although expos-
ed to persecution, yet is so secured that he shall
never need to die, but when the circumstances are so
ordered that his reason is convinced that then it is fit
he should : fit, I say, in order to God's purposes and
his own.

For he that Is innocent, Is safe against all the rods
and the axes of all the consuls of the world, if they

Serm. XX. of christian PRUDENeE. 387

rule by justice ; and he that is prudent will also es-
cape from many rudenesses and irregular violences
that can come by injustice: and no wit of man, no
government, no armies can do more. For Ccv.sar
perished in the midst of all his lei^ions and all his
honours ; and against chance and irregularities^ there
is no provision less than infinite that can give secu-
rity. And although y//«^/^/ice alone cannot do this;
yet innocence gives the greatest title to that provi-
dence, which only can, if he pleases, and will if it be
fitting. Here then are the two arms defensive of a
Christian : prudence against the evils of men, innocence
a'^ainst the evils of devils, and all that relates to his
kingdom.

Prudence fences against persecution and the evil
snares, against the opportunities and occasions of sin,
it prevents surprises, it fortifies all its proper weak-
nesses, it improves our talents, it does advantage to
the kingdom of Christ and the intejests of the gos-
pel, it secures our condition, and instructs our choice
in all the ways and just passages to felicity, it makes
us to live profitably and die wisely ; and without
it, simplicity would turn to silliness, zeal into passion,
passion into fury, religion into scandal, conversation
into a snare, civilities into temptation, courtesies
into danger : and an imprudent person falls into a
condition of harmless, rich and unwary fools, or rather
of birds, sheep and beavers, who are hunted and per-
secuted for the spoils of their fleece or their flesh,
their skins or their entrails, and have not the foresight
to avoid a snare, but by their fear and undefending
follies are driven thither, where they die infallibly.
yMa.toi(Ti voKKw tk <T:<pit Sto\).vrur Every good man is encir-
cled with many enemies, and dangers ; and his vir-
tue sliall be rilled, and the decency of his soul and
spirit shall be discomposed, and turned into a heap
»f inarticulate and disorderly fancies, unless by the

,3C3 OF CHRrsTiAPr prudekce. Serm. XX.

methods and guards of prudence it be managed and
secured.

But in order to the following discourse and its me-
thod, we are first to consider whether this be, or in-
deed can be, a commandment, or what is it. For can
all men that give up their names in baptism, be en-
joined to be wise and prudent.'^ It is as if God would
command us to be eloquent or witty men, fine speak-
ers, or straight-bodied, or excellent scholars, or rich
men : if he please to make us so, we are so. And
prudence is a gift of God, a blessing of an excellent
nature, and of great leisure, and a wise opportunity,
and a severe education, and a great experience, and a
strict observation, and good company; all which be-
ing either wholly or in part out of our power, may
be as free gifts, but cannot be imposed as command-
ments.

To this I answer, that Christian prudence is in
very many instances a direct duty ; in some an in-
stance and advice, in order to degrees and advanta-
ges. Where it is a duty, it is put into every man's
power; where it is an advice, it is only expected ac-
co) ding to what a man hath, and not according to
what he hath not : and even here, although the
events of prudence are out of our power, yet the en-
deavours and the observation, the diligence and
caution, the moial part of it, and the plain conduct of
our necessary duty, (which are portions of this grace)
are such things which God will demand, in proportion
to the talent which he hath intrusted into our banks.
There are indeed some Christians very unwary and
unwise in the conduct of their religion, and they cannot
all help it, at least not in all degrees : but they may
be taught to do prudent things^ though not to be prudent
persons: if they have not x\\e prudence of advice and
conduct^ yet they may have the prudence of obedience
and of disciples. And the event is this ; without

iHerm. XX. of christiatt prudence. 889

prudence tliclr virtue is unsafe, and their persons de-
fenceless, and their interest is unsfuarded ; for pru-
dence is a handmaid waiting at tlie production and
birth of virtue ; it is a nurse to it in its infancy, its
patron in assaults, its guide in temptations, its securi-
ty in all portions of chance and contingencies : and
he that is imprudent, if he have many accidents and
varieties, is in great danger of being none at all^ or, if
he be, at the best he is but a weak and improjltahle
servant., useless to his neighbour, vain in himself, and
as to God, the least in the kin<rdom., iiis virtue is
contingent, and by chance not proportioned to the
reward of wisdom, and the election of a wise reli-
gion,

Kig/of KdL&iv rt/zs/vcv owJivof g-epou*

No purchase, no wealth, no advantage is great
enough to be compared to a wise soul and a prudent
spirit ; and he that wants it, hath a less virtue, and
a defenceless mind, and will suffer a mighty hazard
in the interest of eternity. Its parts and proper acts
consist in the following particulars.

1. It is the duty of Christian prudence to choose
the end of a Christian, that which is perfective of a
man, satisfactory to reason, the rest of a Christian,
and the beatification of his spirit ; and that is, to
choose and desire, and propound to himself heaven,
and the fruition of God, as the end of all his acts
and arts, his designs and purposes. For, in the na-
ture of things, that is most eligible and most to be
pursued, which is most perfective of our nature, and
is the acquiescence, the satisfaction, and proper rest

* Man cannot boast a treasure so divine,
As a wise spirit, and enlightened sonl., A.

390 OF CHJiisTiAN PRUDENCE. Sei'm. XX.

of our most reasonable ajopetltes. Now the things of
this world are difficult and uneasy, full of thorns and
empty of pleasures; they fill a diseased faculty or an
abused sense, but are an infinite dissatisfaction to
reason and the appetites of soul ; they are short and
transient, and they never abide, unless sorrow like a
chain be bound about their leg, and then they never
stir till the orrace of God and reliction breaks it, or else
that the rust of time cats the chain in pieces ; they
are dangerous and doubtful, (ew and difficult, sordid
and particular, not only not communicable to a mul-
titude, but not diffijsive upon the whole man, there
being no one pleasure or object in this world that
delights all the parts of man : and, after all this, they
aro originally from earth and from the creatures, only
that they oftentimes contract alliances with hell and
the grave, with shame and sorrow ; and all these
put together make no great amability, or proportion
to a wise man's choice. But, on the other side, the
thino-s of God are the noblest satisfactions to those
desires which ought to be cherished and swelled up
to infinite ; their deliciousness is vast and full
of relish ; and their very appendant thorns are to
be chosen, for they are gilded, they are safe and
medicinal, they heal the wound they make, and
bring forth fruit of a blessed and a holy life. The
things of God and of religion are easy and sweet,
they bear entertainments in their hand, and reward
at their back ; their good is certain and perpetual,
and they make us cheerful to-day, and pleasant to-
morrow; and spiritual songs end not in a sigh and a
groan ; neither, like unwholesome physick, do they
let loose a present humour, and introduce an habitu-
al indisposition : but they bring us to the felicity of
God, the same yesterday^ and to-day^ and for eve?', they
do not give a private and particular delight, but their
benefit is publick, like the incense of the altar, it
sends up a sweet smell to heaven, and makes atone-

Serm. XX. of cnRisTiAN prudence. 391

ment for the religious man that kindled it, and dehjxhta
all the slanders bj, and makes the very air whole-
some. There is no blessed soul goes to heaven, but
he makes a general joy in all the mansions where
the saints do dwell, and in all the chapels where the
angels sing : and the joys of religion are not univo-
cal, but productive of rare, and accidental, and preter-
natural pleasures ; for the musick of holy hymns
delights the ear, and refreshes the spirit, and makes
the very bones of the saint to rejoice. And charity,
or the giving alms to the poor, does not only ease the
poverty of the receiver ; but makes the giver rich,
and heals his s'\ckness^ and delivers fro77i cleufh : and
temperance, though it be in the matter of meat, and
drink, and pleasures; yet hath an effect upon the
understanding, and makes the reason sober, and the
Avill orderly, and the affections regular, and doe&
things beside and beyond their natural and proper
efficacy: for all the parts of our duty are watered
with the showers of blessing, and bring forth fruit
according to the influence of heaven, and beyond the
capacities of nature.

And now let the voluptuous person go and try,
whether putting his wanton hand to the bosom of his
mistress will get half such honour as Scaevola put
upon his head, when he put his hand into the fire.
Let him see, whether a drunken meeting will cure a
fever, or make him wise : a hearty and a persever-
ing prayer will. Let him tell me, if spending
great sums of money upon his lusts will make him
sleep soundly, or be rich; charity will; alms will in-
crease his fortune, and a good conscience shall charm
all his cares and sorrows into a most delicious slum-
ber. Well may a full goblet w^et the drunkard's
tongue, and then the heat rising from the stomach
will dry the sponge, and heat it into the scorchings
and little images of hell ; and the follies of a wanton

392 ©F CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Serfn. XX.

bed will turn the itch into a smart, and empty the
reins of all their lustful powers : but can they do
honour or satisfaction in any thing that must last, and
that ought to be provided for ? No : all the things of
this world are little, and trifling, and limited, and
particular, and sometimes necessary, because men are
miserable, wanting and imperfect; but they never
do any thing toward perfection, but their pleasure
dies like the time in which it danced awhile : and
when the minute is gone, so is the pleasure too, and
leaves no footstep but the impression of a sigh, and
dwells no where but in the same house where you
shall find yesterdaij^ that is, in forgetfulness and an-
nihilation ; unless its only child. Sorrow, shall mar-
ry, and breed more of its kind, and so continue its
memory and name to eternal ages. It is therefore
the most necessary part of prudence to choose well
in the main stake ; and the dispute is not much : for
if eternal things be better than temporal, the soul
more noble than the body, virtue more honourable
than the basest vices, a lasting joy to be chosen be-
fore an eternal sorrow, much to be preferred before
little, certainty before danger, publick good things be-
fore private evils, eternity before moments ; then let us
sit down in religion, and make heaven to be our end,
God to be our father, Christ our elder brother, the
Holy Ghost the earnest of our inheritance, virtue to
be our employment : and then we shall never enter
into the portion of fools and accursed ill-choosing
spirits. JVazianzen s?i\(\ weW, JMalim prudentiae gut-
tarn quam foecundioris fortunae pelagus ; One flrop of
prudence is more useful than an ocean of a smooth
fortune : for prudence is a rare instrument towards
heaven ; and a great fortune is made oftentimes the
high-way to hell and destruction. However, thus
far prudence is our duty ; c\ery man can be so wise,
and is bound to it, to choose heaven and a cohabita-

Serm. XX. op christian frudeicce. 398

tion with God, before the possessions and transient
vanities of the world.

2. It is a duty of Christian prudence to pursue
this great end, with apt means and instrurnents in
proportion to that end. No wise man will sail to
Ormus in a cock-boat, or use a child for his inter-
preter ; and that general is a Cyclops without an eye,
who chooses the sickest men to man his towns, and
the weakest to fight his battles. It cannot be a
vigorous prosecution, unless the means liave an effi-
cacy or worth commensurate to all the difficulty, and
something of the excellency of that end which is de-
signed. And indeed men use not to be so weak in
acquiring the possessions of their temporals; but in
matters of religion they think any thing effective
enouorh to secure the orreatest interest: as if all the
fields of heaven and the reo;ions of that kingdom
were waste ground, and wanted a colony of plan-
ters ; and that God invited men to heaven upon any
terms, that he might rejoice in the multitude of sub-
jects. For certain it is, men do more to get a little
money than for all the glories of heaven : men rise
up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of careful-
ness, to become richer than their neighbours ; and
are amazed at every loss, and impatient of an evil
accident, and feel a direct storm of passion if they
suffer in their interest. But in order to heaven, they
are cold in their religion, indevout in their prayers,
incurious in their walking, unwatchful in their cir-
cumstances, indifferent in the use of their opportuni-
ties, infrequent in their discoursings of it, not inquisi-
tive of the way, and yet think they shall surely go to
heaven. But a prudent man knows, that by the
greatness of the purchase he is to make an estimate
of the value and the price. When we ask of God
any great thing, as wisdom, delivery from sickness Jiis
fwly spirit, the forgiveness of sins, the grace oi chastity,
VOL. H. 61

'3'Jt OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Serm. XX.

restitution to his favour^ or the like, do we liope to obtain
them without a high opinion of" the things we ask?
and if wc value them highly, must we not desire
them earnestly ? and if we desire them earnestly,
must we not beg for them fervently ? and whatso-
ever we ask for fervently, must not we beg for fre-
quently ? And then, because prayer is but one hand
toward the reaching a blessing, and God requires
our co-op-^ration and endeavour, and we must work
with both hands; are we not convinced that our
prayers are either faint, or a design of laziness, when
we either ask coldly ; or else pray loudly, hoping
to receive the graces we need without labour? A
prudent person, that knows to value the best object
of his desires, Avill also know that he must observe
the degrees of labour, according to the excellence of
the reward : that prayer must be effectual., fervent^
frequent ., continual lioly., passionate., that must get a
grace, or secure a blessing : the love that we must
have to God must be such as to keep his command-
ments., and make us willing to part with all our es-
tate, and all our honour, and our life for the testimo-
ny of a holy conscience : our charity to our neigh-
bour must be expressive in a language of a real
friendship, aptness to forgive, readiness to forbear,
in pitying inlirmities, in relieving necessities, in giving
our goods and our lives, and quitting our privileges
to save his soul, to secure and support his virtue :
our repentance must be full of sorrows and care, of
diligence and hatred against sin ; it must drive out
all, and leave no affections towards it; it must be
constant and persevering, fearful of relapse, and
watchful of all accidents : our temperance must some-
times turn into abstinence, and most commonly be se-
vere, and ever without reproof: He that striveth for
masteries, is temperate (saith St. Paul) in all things.
He that does this, may with some pretence and rea-

Serm. XX. of christian prudence. 395

son say, he intends to go to heaven. But they that
will not deny a kist, nor refrain an appetite ; tiiey
that will be drunk when their friends do merrily con-
strain them, or love a cheap religion, and a gentle
and lame prayer, sliort and soft, quickly said and
soon passed over, seldom returning and but little ob-
served ; iiovv is it possible that they should think
themselves persons disposed to receive such glori-
ous crowns and sceptres, such excellent conditions,
wiiich tiiey have not faith enough to believe, nor at-
tention enough to consider, and no man can have wit
enough to understand ? But so might an ./Jrcadian
shepherd look from the rocks, or through the clifts
of the valley where his sheep graze, and wonder that
the messenger stays so long from coming to him to be
crowned king of all the Greek islands, or to be adopt-
ed heir to the JMacedonian monarchy. It is an in-
finite love of God that we have heaven upon condi-
tions which we can perform with greatest dili-
gence : but truly the lives of men are generally such,
that they do things in order to heaven, things (I say)
so few, so trifling, so unworthy, that they are not
proportionable to the reward of a crown of oak or
a yellow ribband, the slender reward with which
the Romans paid their soldiers for their extraordi-
nary valour. True it is, that heaven is not in a just
sense of a commutation, a reward^ but a gift., and an
infinite favour : but yet it is not reached forth but to
persons disposed by the conditions of God ; which
conditions when we pursue in kmd, let us be very
careful we do not fail of the might jj 'prize of our high
calling.) for want of degrees and just measures, the
measures of zeal and a mighty love.

3. It is an office of prudence to serve God, so that
we may at tlic same time preserve our lives and our
estates, our interest and reputation for ourselves and
9ur relatives, so far as tlicy can consist together. >^t.

396 OF eHRisTiAN pnuDENCB. Strm. XX.

Paul, in the beginning of Christianity, was careful to
instruct the forwardness and zeal of the new Chris*
tians into good husbandry, and to catechise the men
into good trades, and the women into useful employ-
ments, that they might not be unprofitable. For
Christian religion carrying us to heaven, does it by
the way of a man, and by the body it serves the
soul, as by the soul it serves God ; and therefore it
endeavours to secure the body and its interest, that
it may continue the opportunities of a crown, and
prolong the stage in which we are to run /or the mighty
prize of our salvation : and this is that part of pru-
dence which is the defensative and jjuard of a Chris-
tian m the time of persecution ; and it hath in it
much of duty. He that through an indiscreet zeal
casts.himself into a needles danger, hath betrayed
his life to tyranny, and tempts the sin of an enemy ;
he loses to God the service of many years, and cuts
oflf himself from a fair opportunity of working his
salvation, (in the main parts of which we shall find
a long life, and very many years of reason, to be little
enough ;) he betrays the interest of his relatives^
(which he is bocmd to preserve ;) he disables him-
self of making provision for them of his own house, and
he that fails in this duty by his own fault, is worse than
aninfidel ; and denies the faith, by such unseasonably-
dying or being undone, which by that testimony he
did not intend gloriously to confess ; he serves the
end of ambition and popular services, but not the so-
ber ends of religion ; he discourages the weak, and
weakens the hands of the strong, and by upbraiding
iheir weariness, tempts them to turn it into rashness
or despair ; he affrights strangers from entering into
religion, while by such imprudence he shall represent
it to be impossible at the same time to be wise and
to be religious ; he turns all the whole religion into
9. ft'owardncss of dying or beggary, leaving no space

Serm. XX. or christian prudence. 591"

for the parts and oilices of a holy Hfe, which in times
of persecution, arc infinitely necessary for the ad-
vantai^cs of the institution. But God hath provided
better things for his servants : (jucm fata cogitni^ ille
ciwi venia est miser ; he whom God by an inevitable
necessity calls to sufferance, he hath leave to be
undone ; and that ruin of his estate or loss of his
Jife shall secure first a providence, then a crown.

At si qnis ultro se malis offert volens,
Seque ipse torquet, perdere est dignus bona
duels nescit uli • *

But he that invites the cruelty of a tyrant by his
own follies, or the indiscretions of an insignificant
and impertinent zeal, suffers as a wilful person, and
enters into the portion and reward of fools. And
this is the precept of our blessed Saviour, next after
my text, Beware of men ; use your prudence to the pur-
poses of avoiding their snare. T*v&>t§4)v /2goT« //«mcv avu^sgof.
J\Ian is the most harmful of all the ivild beasts. \e arc
sent as sheep among wolves ; be therefore wise as ser-
pents : when you can avoid it, suffer not men to ride
over your heads., or trample you under foot ; that is
the wisdom of serpents. And so must we ; that is,
by all just compliances, and toleiation of all Indif-
ferent changes in which a duty is not destroyed, and
in which we are not active, so preserve ourselves,
that we might be permitted to live, and serve God,
and to do advantages to religion ; so purchasing lime
to do good in, by bending In all those flexures of for-
tune and condition which we cannot help, and which
we do not set forward, and which we never did pro^
cure. And this is the direct meaning of St. Paul,':

* But he who rashly plunges into ruin,
A sclC-tomientor, well deserves to lose
The blei"Siugs which he knows not to enjoy. A,

398 OF CBRTSTIAN PRUDENCE. Semi. XX.

See then thai ijou umlk circumspectly^ not as fools, but
as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil ;*
That is, we are fallen into times that are trouble-
some, dangei'OLis, persecuting, and afflictive; pur-
chase as much respite as you can ; buj or redeem
the time by all honest arts, by humility, by fair car-
riage and sweetnesses of society, by civility and a
peaceful conversation, by good words and all ho-
nest oOices, by -praying for your persecutors, by pa-
tient sufferance of what is unavoidable : and when
the tyrant draws you forth from all these guards
and retirements, and offers violence to your duty,
or tempts you to do a dishonest act, or to omit an
act of obligation ; then come forth into the thea're,
and lay your necks down to the hangman's axe, and
fear not lodie the most shameful death of the cross
or the gallows. For so have I known angels ascend-
ing and descending upon those ladders: and the Lord
of glory suffered shame, and purchased honour upon
the cross. Thus we are to tvcdk in icisdom toivards them
that are without, redeeming the time rf for so St. Paul re-
news that permission or commandment : give them no
just cause of offence; with all humility and as oc-
casion is offered, represent their duty, and invite
them sweetly to felicities and virtue, but do not in
ruder language upbraid and reproach their base-
ness; and when they are incorrigible, let them alone,
lest like cats they run mad with the smell of deli-
cious ointments. And therefore Pothiaus bishop of
Lyons, being asked by the unbaptized president, Who
was the God of Christians? answered, txv t,t ap-.^ yiuni.
If you be disposed with real and hearty desires of
learning, what you ask you shall quickly know ; but
if your purpose be indirect, I shall not preach to you,
to my hurt, and your no advantage. Thus the wis-

* Eph. V. 1.^, 16. fCol. iT. 5.

Skerjn. XX, ov christian prudence. 399

dom of the primitive Christians was careful not to
prophane tlie teni|)les of the lieathcn, not to revile
their false gods ; and when they were in duty to re-
prehend the folhes of their rehgion, they chose to do
it from their own writino;s, and as relators of their own
records; they lied from the fury of a persecution, they
hid themselvesmcaves,and wandered about in disguis-
es, and preached in private, and celebrated their sy-
naxes and communions in grots and retirements; and
made it appear to all the world they were peaceable
and obedient, charitable and patient, and at this
price bought their time;

As knowing that even in this sense time was very
precioiif^^ and the opportunity of giving glory to
God by the offices of an excellent religion, was not
too dear a purchase at that rate- But then when the
wolves had entered into the folds, and seized upon a
lamb, the rest fled, and used all the innocent arts of
concealment. St. Athanmiiis being overtaken by his
persecutors, but not known, and asked whether he
saw Jlthanasius passing that way, pointed out for-
ward with his finger, JVon huge abest Jlthanasins,
The man is not far olf, a swift footman will easily
overtake him. And St. Paul divided the counsel of
his judges, and made the Pharisees his parties, by
a witty insinuation of his own belief of the resurrec-
tion, which was not the main question, but an inci-
dent to the matter of his accusation. And when
Plinius Secundus^ in the face of a tyrant court, was
pressed so invidiously to give his opinion concern-

* A golden opportunity improved,
iNlcH (jud tiie shortest road to suro snores?. A;

400 OP CHRISTIAN pnuDENCBl. Scrm. XX,

inga good man in banishment, and under the disad-
vantage of an unjust sentence, he diverted the snare
of Marcus Regulus, bj referring his answer to a
competent judicatory according to the laws ; being
pressed again, by offering a direct answer upon a just
condition, which he knew they would not accept;
and the third time, by turning the envy upon the
impertinent and malicious orator: that he won great
honour, the honour of a severe honesty, and a wit-
ty man, and a prudent person. The thing I have
noted, because it is a good pattern to represent the
arts of honest evasion, and religious, prudent hones-
ty ; which any good man may transcribe and turn
into his own instances, if any equal case should oc-
cur.

For in this case the rule is easy ; if we are com-
manded to be wise and redeem our time, that we serve
God and religion, we must not use unlawful arts which
set us back in the accounts of our time, no lying
subterfuges, no betraying of a truth, no treachery to
a good man, no ensnaring of a brother, no secret
renouncing of any part or proposition of our reli-
gion, no denying to confess the article when we are
called to it. For when the primitive Christians had
got a trick, to give money for certificates that they
had sacrificed to idols, though indeed they did not
do it, but had corrupted the officers and ministers
of state, they dishonoured their religion, and were
marked with the appellative of libellatici, libeller's ;
and were excommunicate and cast off from the so-
ciety of Christians and the hopes of heaven, till they
had returned to God by a severe repentance. Op-
iandum est, ut, quod libenter facis, diu facer e possis ;
It is o-ood to have time long^ to do that which we
ought to do : but to pretend that which we dare
not do, and to say we have when we have not, if we
know we ought not, is to dishonour the cause and

Serm. XX. op christian prudrnce. 401

the person too ; it is expressly ap^ainst confession of
CAm/, of wiiirh St. Paul smih, Bi^ the mouth con-
fession is mack nnto salvation ; and our blessed Sa-
viour, lie that confe^seth me before 9nen^ I will confess
him before my heavenly Father : and if here he refus-
eth to own me, I will not oAvn hin» hereafter. It
is also expressly against Christian fortitude and
nobleness, and against the simplicity and sincerity
of our religion, and it turns prudence into craft, and
brings the devil to wait in the temple, and to minister
to God ; and it is a lesser kind oC apostacy. And it is
well that the man is tempted no farther ; for if the
persecutors could not be corrupted with money, it is
odds but the complying man would; and though ha
would with the money hide his shame, yet he will
not with the loss of all his estate redeem his religion.

AucTJi^ft'C J' iyiit it TOt^ t/uxiflu; Tov Ciov <ru^m KUKOtc' oOme men will

lose their lives, rather than a fair estate : and do
not almost all the armies of the world (I mean those
that fight in the justest causes) pretend to fight and
die for their lands and liberties ? and there are too
many also that will die twice, rather than be beggars
once; although we all know that //ie second death
is intolerable. Christian prudence forbids us to pro-
voke a danger : and they were fond persons that ran
to persecution, and when the proconsul sate on the
hfe and death, and made strict inquisition after Chri^i-
tians, went and offered themselves to die ; and he
was a fool that being in Portugal^ ran to the priest as
he elevated the host, and overthrew the mysteries,
and openly defied the rights of that religion. God,
when he sends a persecution, will pick out such per-
sons whom he will have to die, and whom he will
consign to banishment, and whom to poverty. In
the mean time, let us do our duty w hen we can, and
as long as we can, and W'th as much strictness as we
can; walking «xg/ff.-c (as the apostle's phrase is) not.
VOL. ji. 52

402 OP CHRISTIAN PRDDENCB. Semi. XXI.

prevaricating' in the least tittle: and then if we can
be safe with the arts of civil, innocent, inoffensive
compliance, let us bless God for his permissions made
to us, and his assistances in the using them. But if
either we turn our zeal into the ambition of death,
and the follies of an unnecessary beggary; or on the
other side, turn our prudence into craft arjd covetous-
ness ; to the first I say, that God halh no pleasure in
fools ; to the latter. If you gain the ivhole worlds and
lose your own soul, your loss is infinite and intolerable.

SERMON XXI.

TART II.

4. It is the office of Christian prudence so to or-
der the affairs of our life, as that in all the offices of
our souls and conversation, we do honour and repu-
tation to the religion we profess : for the follies and
vices of the professors give great advantages to the
adversary to speak reproachlully, and do alien the
hearts, and hinder the compliance of those undeter-
mined persons, who are apt to be persuaded, if their
understandings be not prejudiced.

But as our necessary duty is bound upon us by
one ligament more, in order to tlie honour of the
cause of God; so it particularly binds us to many
circumstances, adjuncts, and parts of duty, which
have no other commandment but the law of pru-
dence. There are some sects of Christians which
have some one constant indisposition, which, as a
character, divides them from ail others, and makes
them reproved on all hands. Some are so suspicious
and ill-natured, that if a person of a facile nature and

Serm. XXT. of christiak prudence. 403

gentle disposition fall into their hands, he is presently
soured, and made morose, unpleasant, and uneasj in
his conversation. Otheis there are that do things so
like to what themselves condemn, that they are
forced to take sanctuary, and labour in the mine of
insia;niticant distinctions, to make themselves believe
they are innocent : and in the mean time they oifend
all men else, and open the mouths of their adversa-
ri(!S to speak reproachful things, true or false, as it
happens. And it requires a great wit to understand
all the distinctions and devices thought of, for legiti-
mating the worship of images : and those peo[)le
that are liberal in their excommunications, make
men think they have reason to say, their judges are
proud, or self-willed, or covetous, or ill-natured peo-
ple. These that are the faults of governours and
continued, are quickly derived u[)on the sect, and
cause a disreputation to the whole society and insti-
tution. And who can think that conofrejration to
be a true branch of the Christian, which makes
it their profession to kill men to save their souls,
against their will, and against their understanding.'^
who, calling themselves disciples of so meek a mas-
ter, do live like bears upon prey, and spoil, and blood .^
It is a huge dishonour to the sincerity of a man's pur*-
poses, to be too busy in fingering money in the mat-
ters of religion : and they that are zealous for their
rights, and tame in their devotion, furious against
sacrilege, and companions of drunkards, implacable
against breakers of a canon, and carele ss and pa
tient enough with them that break the fifth or sixth
commandments of the decalogue, tell all the world
their private sense is to preserve their own interest,
with scruple and curiosity, and leave God to take
care of his.

Thus Christ reproved the Pharisees for straining
at a gnat, and sivallowing a camel ; the very represen-
tation of the manner and matter of fact discovers
the vice by reproving the folly of it. They that are

464 OF ciinisTiAN prudence. Nerm. XXI'

factious to g-et a rich proselyte, and tliink the poor
Dot worth saving, dishonour their zeal, and teach men
to call it covetousness : and though there may be a
reason of prudence to desire one more than the
other, because of a bigger efficacy the example of
the one may have more than the other ; yet it vvill
quickly be discovered, if it be done by secular de-
sign; and the scripture, that did not allow the pre-
ferring of a gay man before a poor saint in the mat-
ter of place, will not be pleased that in the matter
of souls, wliich are all equal, there should be a fac-
tion and design, and an acceptation of persons. Never
let sins pollute our religion with arts of the world,
nor olTer to support the ark with unhallowed hands,
nor mingle false propositions with true, nor make le-
ligion a pretence to profit or preferment, nor do
things \vhich arc like a vice; neither ever speak
things dishonourable of God, nor abuse thy brother
for God's sake, nor be solicitous and over-busy to
recover thy own little things, neither always think it
tit to lose thy charity by forcing thy brother to do
justice; and all those things which are the outsides
and faces, the garments and most discerned parts of
religion, be sure that they be dressed according to all
the circumstances of men, and by all the rules of
comuoa honesty and publick reputation. Is it not a
sad thing that the Jew should say. The Christians
worship images? or that it should become a pro-
verb,-that the Jew spends all in his passover, the JMoor
in his marriage^ aadllie Christian in his law-suits? that
what the first sacrifice to religion, and the second to
publick joy, we should spend in malice, covetousness,
and revenge }

. Piidet haec opprobria nobis

Et dici poluisse, et non potuisse refelli.*

* These foul aspersions on our honest fame,
Must, uarefiitcd, tinge q^r cheeks wi th shame. A.

Serm. XXL op christian prudenck. 405

But among ourselves also we serve the devil's ends,
and minister to an eternal disunion, by saying and
doing things which look unhandsomely . One sort
of men is superstitious, fantastical, greedy of honour,
and tenacious of propositions to fill the purse, and
his religion is thoijoht notliing but policy and opinion.
Anotiicr says, he halii a good religion, but he is the
most indifferent and cold person in the world, either
to maintain it. or to live according to it. The one
dresses the images of saints with hue cloaths ; the
other lets the poor go naked, and disrobes the priests
that minister in the religion. A third uses God worse
than all this, and says of him such things that aie
scandalous even to an honest man, and such wlich
would undo a good man's reputation. And a fourth
yet, endures no governour but himself, and pretends
to set up Christ and make himself his lieutenant. x\nd
a fifth hates all srovernment. And from all this it
comes to pass, that it is hard for a man to choose his
side; and he that chooses wisest, takes that which
hath in it least hurt; but some he must enduie, or
live Avithout communion : and e\ery church of one
denomination is, or hath been, too incurious of pre-
venting infamy or disreputation to their confessions.
One thing I desire should be observed, that here
the question being concerning prudence, and the mat-
ter of doing reputation to our religion, it is not enough
to say, we can with leaining justify all that we do»
and make all whole with three or four distinctions:
for possibly that man that went to visit the Corinthian
Lais^ if he had been asked why he dishonoured him-
self with so unhandsome an entrance, mii>;ht find an
excuse to legitimate his act, or at least to make him-
self believe well of his own person; but he that in-
tends to do himself honour, must take care that he
be not suspected, that he give no occasion of re-
proachful language ; for fame and honour is a nice

406 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. ScnW. XXf.

thing, tender as a woman's chastity, or hke the face
of the purest mirror, wliich a foul breath, or an un-
wholesome air, or a watery eye can sully, and the
beauty is lost although it be not dashed in pieces.
When a man, or a sect, is put to answer for them-
selves in the matter of reputation, they with their
distinctions wipe the glass, and at last can do nothing
but make it appear it was not broken ; but their very
abstersion and laborious excuses confess it was foul
and faulty. We must know, that all sorts of men and
all sects of Christians, have not only the mistakes
of men and liieir prejudices to contest with all, but
the calumnies and aggravation of devils : and therefore
it will much ease our account of dooms-day, if we
are now so prudent that men will not be offended
here, nor the devils furnished with a libel in the day
of our ^reat account.

To this rule appertains, that we be curious in ob-
serving the circumstances of men, and satisfying all
their reasonable expectations, and doing things at
that rate of charity and religion which they are
taught to be prescribed in the institution, there are
some things which are indecencies ratlier than sins,
such which may become a just heathen, but not a
holy Christian; a man of the world, but not a man
professing godliness : because when the greatness of
the man, or the excellence of the law, hath en<ra<ied
us upon great severity or an exemplar virtue; what-
soever is less than it, renders the man unworthy
of tlie religion, the religion unworthy its fame :
men think themselves abused, and therefore return
shame for payment. We never read of an apostle
that went to law ; and it is but reasonable to expect
that of all men in the world. Christians should not be
such fighting people, and clergymen should not com-
mand armies, and kings should not be drunk, and
subjects should not strike priiices for justice, and an

Serm. XXt. of christian prudence. 40?

old man sliould not be youthful in talk or in hig
habit, and women should not swear, and crreat men
should not lie, and a poor man sl.iouid not oppress:
for, besides the sin ol some of them, tliere is an inde-
cency in all of them ; and by being contiaiy to the end
of an office, or the reputation of a state, or the so-
brieties of a graver or sublimed person, they asperse
the religion, as insufficient to keep the persons within
the bounds of fame and common reputation.

But above all things, those sects of Christians^
whose professed doctrine brings destruction and
diminution to government, give the most intolerable
scandal and dishonour to the institution ,* and it had
been impossible that Christianity should have pre-
vailed over the wisdom and power of tlie Greeks and
Romans^ if it had not been hunible to superiours, pa-
tient of injuries, charitable to the needy, a great ex-
actcr of obedience to kings, even to heathens^ that thev
might be won and convinced ; and to pc?'scci(fors^ that
they might be sweetened in their anger, or upbraided
for their cruel injustice : for so doth the humble vine
creep at the foot of an oak. and leans upon its lowest
base, and begs shade and [)rotection, and leave to
grow under its branches, and to give and take mutual
refreshment, and pay a friendly influence for a miph-
ty patronage ; and they grow and dwell together,
and are the most remarkable of fiiends and married
pairs of all the leafy nation. Religion of itself is
»oft, easy, and defenceless, and God hath made it grow
up with empire, and lean upon the arms of kings, and
it cannot well grow alone; and if it shall, like the
ivy, suck the heart of the oak, upon whose body it
grew and was supported, it will be pulled down from
its usurped eminence, and fire and shame shall be its
portion. We cannot complain if princes arm against
those Christians, who, if they were sulfered to pi each,
will disarm the princes; and it will be hard to per-
suade, that kings are bound to protect and nourish

403

OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. ScrVl. XXt>.

those that n'ill prove ministers of their own cxaucto-
ration: and no prince can have juster reason to forbid,
nor any man have greater reason to deny, communion
to a family, than when they go about to destroy the
power of the one, or corrupt the duty of the othen
The particulars of tiiis rule are very many: I shall
only instance in one more, because it is of great con-
cernment to the publick interest of Christendom.

There are some persons whose religion is hugely
disgraced, because they change their propositions ac-
cordinf>- as their temporal necessities or advantages
do return. They that in their weakness and begin-
ninf, cry out against all violence as against persecu-
tion, and from being sufferers sv/ell up till they be
prosperous, and from thence to power, and at
last to tyranny, and then suffer none but themselves,
and trip up those feet which they humbly kissed,
that themselves should not be trampled upon ; these
men tell all the world, that at first they were pusil-
lanimous, or at last outrageous ; that their doctrine
at first served their fear, and at last served their
rao-e, and that they did not at all intend to serve
God ; and then who shall believe them in any thing
else ? Thus some men declaim ao;ainst the faults of
governours, that themselves may govern ; and when
the power is in their hands, what was a fault in oth-
ers, is in them necessity ; as if a sin could be hallowed
for coming into their hands. Some Greeks, at Florence^
subscribed the article of purgatory, and condemned
it in their own dioceses : and the king's supremacy
in causes ecclesiastical was earnestly defended
against the pretences of the bishop of .itome ; and
yet when he was thrust out, some men were, and are,
violent to submit the king to their consistories ; as
if he were supreme in defiance of the pope, and yet
not supreme over his own clergy. These articles
are managed too suspiciously.

Serm. XXI. of cHRisTiAff prudence. 409

Omnia si perdas, famam servare memento.*

You lose all the advantages to jour cause, if jou
lose jour reputation.

5. It is a duty also of Christian prudence, that the
teaclicrs of others bj authoritj, or reprovers of their
vices bj charitj, should also make their persons apt
to do it without objection.

Loripedera rectus derideat, Acthiopera albus.f

No man can endure the Gracchi preaching against
sedition, nor Vcrrcs prating against thieverj, or Aiilo
against homicide: and if Hcroc/ had made an oration
of humilitj, or Antiochis of mercj, men would have
thought it had been a design to evil purposes. He
that means to jjain a soul, must not make his sermon
an ostentation of his eloquence, but the law of his
own life. If a grammarian should speak solecisms, or
a musician sing like a bittern, he becomes ridiculous,
for offending in the facultj he professes. So it is in
them who minister to the conversion of souls : if thej
fail in their own life, when thej profess to instruct
another, thej are defective in their proper part, and
are unskilful to all their purposes ; and the cardinal
oiCrema did with ill success tempt the English priests
to quit their chaste marriages, when himself was de-
prehendcd in unchaste embraces. For good counsel
seems to be unhallowed, when it is reached forth by
an impure hand ; and he can ill be believed bj an-
other, whose life so confutes his rules, that it is plain.

* Though aU be lost, preserve your honour still. A.

t Juv. Sat. ii. V. 23,
The man who treads aright.

May mock the halt, the swarthy Moor, the white.

GiFFOED.

VOL. ir. 53

410 OP CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Som. XXI,

he does not believe himself. Those churches that are
zealous (or souis, must send into their ministeries men
so innocent, that evil persons may have no excuse to
be any longer vicious. When Gorgias went about to
persuade the Greeks to be at peace, he had eloquence
enough to do advantage to his cause, and reason
enough to press it : but JMelanthius was glad to put
him off, by telling him that he was not fit to persuade
pi'ace, who could not agree at home with his wife,
nor make his wife agree with her maid ; and he that
could not make peace between three single persons,
was unapt to prevail tor the re-uniting iourteen or
fifteen commonweaiths. And this thing St Paul re-
marks, by enjoining that a bishop should be chosen,
such an one as knew well to lule his own house, or
else he is not lit to rule the church of God. And when
thou persuadest thy brother to be chaste, let not him
deride thee for thy intemperance ; and it will ill be-
come thee to be severe against an idle servant, if
thou thyself beest useless to the publick ; and every
notorious vice is infinitely against the spirit of go-
vernment, and depresses a man to an evenness with
common persons.— /Wm?^* quos inqninat aequat. To
reprove belons^s to a superiour ; and as innocence
gives a man advantage over his brother, giving him
an artificial and adventitious authority ; so the fol-
hes and scandals of a publick and governing man,
destroy the efficacy of that authority that is just and
natural. Now this is directly an office of Christian
prudence, that good offices and great authority be-
come not inefiective by ill conduct.

Hither also it appertains, that in publick or private
reproofs, we observe circumstances of ^/me, o^ place,
o{ person^ oC disposition. The vices of a king are not
to be opened publickly, and princes must not be re-
prehended as a man reproves his servant ; but by cate-
gorical propositions, by abstracted declamations, by

f^erm. XXL of christian prudencK. 411

reprehensions of a crime in its single nature, in pri-
vate, w'itli humility, and arts of insinuation ; and it
is against Christian prudence, not only to use a prince
or great personage with common language ; but it
is as great an imprudence to pretend, for such a rude-
ness, the examples of the prophets in the Old Testa-
ment. For their case was extraordinary, their call-
ing peculiar, their commission special, their spirit
miraculous, their authority great as to that single
mission ; they were like thunderor the trump of God,
sent to do that office plainly, for the doing of which
in that manner, God had given no commission to any
ordinary minister. And therefore we never iind, that
the priests did use that freedom which the prophets
were commanded to use, whose very words being
put into their mouths, it was not to be esteemed a
human act, or a lawful manner of doing an ordinary
office; neither could it become a precedent to thenx
whose authority is precarious and without coercion,
whose spirit is allayed with Christian graces and du-
ties of humility, whose words are not prescribed, but
left to the conduct of prudence, as it is to be advised
by publick necessities and private circumstances, in
ages where all things are so ordered, that what was
fit and and pious amongst the old Jeics^ would be un-
civil and intolerable to the latter Christians. He
also that reproves a vice, should also treat the persons
with honour and civilities, and by fair opinions and
sweet addresses, place the man in the regions of
modesty, and the confines of grace, and the fringes
of repentance. For some men are more restrained
by an imperfect, feared shame, so long as they think
there is a reserve of reputation which they may se-
cure, than they can be with all the furious declama-
tions of the world, when themselves are represented
ugly and odious, full of shame, and actually punished
with the worst of temporal evils, beyond which h«

412 OF cHRI!^TIA^f PRUDENCE. Serm. XXL

fears not here to suffer, and from whence, because he
knows it will be hard for him to be redeemed by an
aftergame of reputation, it makes him desperate, and
incorrigible by fraternal corruption.

A zealous man hath not done his duty, when he
calls his brother drunkard and beast ; and he may-
better do it by telling him he is a man, and sealed
with God's spirit, and honoured with the title of a
Christian, and is, or ought to be, reputed as a dis-
creet person by his friends, anil a governour of a fami-
ly, or a guide in his country, or an example to many,
and that it is huge pjty so many excellent things
should be sullied and allayed, with what is so much
below all this. Then a reprover does his duty, when
he is severe against the vice, and chaiitable to the
man, and careful of his reputation, and sorry for his
real dishonour, and observant of his circumstances,
and watchful to surprise his affections and reso-
lutions, there, where they are most tender and most
tenable ; and men will not be in love with virtue
whither they are forced with rudeness and incivilities;
but they love to dwell there, whither they are
invited friendly, and where they are treated civilly,
and feasted liberally, and led by the hand and the
eye to honour and felicity.

6. It is a duty of Christian prudence not to suffer
our souls to walk alone, unguarded, unguided, and
more single than in other actions and interests of
our lives, wliich are of less concernment. Vae soli
et singulari, said the wise man. Wo to him that is alone.
And if we consider how much God hath done to
secure our souls, and after all that how many ways
there are for a man's soul to miscarry, we should
think it very necessary to call to a spiritual man, to
take us by the liand to walk in the ways of God, and
to lead us in all the regions of duty, and through the
labyrinths of danger. For God, who best loves and
best knows how to value our soul, set a price no less

Serm. XXI. of christian prudence. 413

upon it than the life blood of his holy son ; he hath
treated it with variety of usages, according as the
■world had new guises and new necessities; he abates
it with punishment, to make us avoid greater; he
shortened our life, that we might Hvc for ever; he
turns sickness into vii tue, he brings good out of evil,
he turns enmities to advantages, our very sins into
repentances and stricter walking ; he defeats all the
follies of men and all the arts of the devil, and lays
snares and uses violence to secure obedience; he
sends prophets and priests to invite us and to threa-
ten us to felicities ; he restrains us with laws, and he
bridles us with honour and shame, reputation and
society, friends and foes ; he lays hold on us by the
instruments of all the passions ; he is enough to till
our love, he satisfies our hope, he atfrights us with
fear; lie gives us part of our reward in hand, and
entertains all our faculties with tlie promises of an
intinite and glorious portion ; he curbs our affections,
he directs our wills, he instructs our understandings
with scriptures, with perpetual sermons, with good
books, with frequent discourses, with particular ob-
servations and great experience, with accidents and
judgments, with rare events of providence and mira-
cles ; he sends his angels to be our guard, and to
place us in opportunities of virtue, and to take us
oiffrom ill company and places of danger, to set us
near to good examples; he gives us his holy spirit,
and he becomes to us a principle of mighty grace,
descending upon us in great variety and undiscerned
events, besides all those parts of it, which men have
reduced to a method and an art: and, after all
this, he forgives us infinite irregularities, and spares
us every day, and still expects, and passes by, and
waits all our days, still watching to do us good, and
to save that soul which he knows is so precious, one
of the chicfest of the works of God, and an imao-e of
divinity. Now Irom all these arts and mercies of

414 OF cwniSTiAN PRtDENCE. Scrm. XXL

God, besides that we have infinite reason to adore
his goodness, we have also a demonstration that we
ouojht to do all that possibly we can, and extend all
our faculties, and watch all our opportunities, and
take in all assistances to secure the interest of our
soul, for which God is pleased to take such care, and
use so many arts for its security. If it were not
highly worth it, God would not do it : if it were not
all of it necessary, God would not do it. But if it be
worth it, and all of it be necessary, why should we
not labour in order to this orreat end } [f it be worth
so much to God, it is so much more to us : for \i we
perish, his felicity is undisturbed ; but we are undone,
infinitely undone. It is therefore worth taking in a
spiritual guide ; so far we are gone.

But because we are in the question of prudence,
we must consider whether it be necessary to do so :
for every man thinks himself wise enough as to the
conduct of his soul, and managing of his eternal inter-
est ; and divinity is every man's trade, and the scrip-
tures speak our own language, and the command-
ments are few and plain, and the laws are the measure
of justice ; and if I say my prayers, and pay my debts,
my duty is soon summed up : and thus we usually
make our accounts for eternity, and at this rate only
take care for heaven. But let a man be questioned
for a portion of his estate, or have his life shaken
with diseases ; then it will not be enough to employ
one agent, or to send for a good woman to minister
a potion of the juices of her country garden ; but the
ablest lawyers, and the skilfullest physicians, and the
advice of friends, and huge caution, and diligent at-
tendances, and a curious watching concerning all
the accidents and little passages of our disease. And
truly a man's life and health is worth all that and
much more, and in many cases it ueeds it all.

Serm. XXL of christian prudencf.. 415

But then is the soul the only safe, and the only
trifling thins: about us? Are not there a thousand
dangers and ten thousand diincuities, and innumera-
ble possibilities of a misadventure.'' Are not all the
congregations in the world divided in their doctrines,
and all of them call their own way necessary, and
most of them call all the rest damnable? We had
need of a wise instructor and a prudent choice at
our first entrance and election of our side ; and when
we are well in the matter of faith for its object and
institution, all the evils of myself, and all the evils of
the church, and all the good that happens to evil
men, every day of danger, the periods of sickness,
and the day of death, aie days of tempest and storm,
and our faith will sufl'er shipwreck, unless it be
strong, and supported and directed. But who shall
guide the vessel, when a stormy passion or a violent
imagination transports the man? Who shall awaken
his reason, and charm his passion into slumber and
instruction ? How shall a man make his fears confi-
dent, and allay his confidence with fear, and make
the allay with just proportions, and steer evenly be-
tween the extremes, or call upon his sleeping pur-
poses, or actuate his choices, or bind him to reason in
all his wanderings and ignorances, in his passions and
mistakes ? For suppose the man of great skill and
great learning in the ways of religion ; yet if he be
abused by accident or by his own will, who shall then
judge his cases of conscience, and awaken his duty,
and renew his holy principle, and actuate his spiri-
tual powers : for physicians, that prescribe to others,
do not minister to themselves in cases of dancer and
violent sicknesses ; and in matter of distcmperature,
we shall not find that books alone will do all the
workof a spiritual physician, more than of a natural.
I will not go about to increase the dangers and diffi-
culties of the soul, to represent the assistance of a

416 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. ^evm. XXL

spiritual man to be necessary. But of this I am

sure ; our not understanding and our not considering

our soul, makes us first to neglect, and then many

times to lose it. But is not every man an unequal

judge in his own case? and therefore the wisdom of

God and the laws, hath appointed tribunals, and

judges, and arbitrators. And that men are partial

in the matter of souls it is infinitely certain, because

amongst those millions of souls that perish, not one

in ten thousand but believes himself in a Pood con-

. . ..."

dition; and all the sects of Christians think they are

in the right, and few are patient to inquire whether
they be or no. Then add to this, that the questions
of souls, being cloalhed with circumstances of matter
and particular contingency, are or may be infinite ;
and most men are so unfortunate, that they have so
entangled their cases of conscience, that there where
they have done something good, it may be they
have mini>led half a dozen evils: and when interests
are confounded, and governments altered, and power
strives with right, and insensibly passes into right,
and duty to God would fain be reconciled with duty
to our relatives, will it not be more than necessary
that wc should have some one, that we may inquire
of after the way to heaven, which Is now made in-
tricate by our follies and inevitable accidents.'^ But
hy what instrument shall men alone, and in their
own cases, be able to discern the spirit of truth from
the spirit of illusion, just confidence from presump-
tion, fear from pusillanimity.^ Are not ail the thu)gs
and assistances iii the world little enough to defend
us d<^3.\nst pleasure ?i.nd pain^ the two great fountains
of temptation ? Is it not harder to cure a lust than to
cure a fever.'* And are not the deceptions and follies
of men, and the arts of the devil, and enticements
of the v^'orld, and the deceptions of a man's own
heart, and the evils of sin, more evil and more nume-

Serni. XXI. of christian prudence. 417

rous than the sicknesses and diseases of any one
man ? And if a man perishes in his soul, is it not
infinitely more sad than if he could rise from his
grave and die a thousand deaths over? Thus we ar«
advanced a second step in this prudential motive :
God used many arts to secure our soul's interest;
and there are infinite dangers, and Infinite ways of
miscarriage in the soul's interest : and therefore
there is great necessity God should do all those mer-
cies of security, and that we should do all the under-
ministeries we can in this great v/ork.

But what advantage shall we receive by a spiri-
tual guide ? Much every way. For this is the way
that God hath appointed, who in every age hath
sent a succession of spiritual peisons, whose office is
to minister in holy things, and to be stewards of God''s
household, shepherds of the Jlock, dispensers of the mys-
teries, under mediators, and ministers of prayer:
preachers of the law, expounders of questions, moni-
tors of duty, conveyances of blessings: and that
which is a good discourse in the mouth of another
man, is from them an ordinance of God ; and besides
its natural efficacy and persuasion, it prevails hy the
way of blessing, by the reverence of his person, by
divine institution, by the excellency of order, by the
advantages of opinion, and assistances of reputation,
by the influence of the spirit who is the president of
such ministeries, and who is appointed to all Chris-
tians according to the dispensation that is appointed
to them; to the people in their obedience, and fre-
quenting of the orditiance, to the priest in his minis-
tery, and publick and private offices. To which also
I add this consideration, that as the holy sacraments
are hugely effective to spiritual purposes, not only
because they convey a blessing to the worthy susci-
pients, but because men cannot be worthy suscipients
unless they do many excellent acts of virtue in order

VOL. IF, ^4

418 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Semi. XXL

to a previous disposition ; so tiiat in the whole con-
junction and transaction of affairs, there is good done
by way of proper efficacy and divine blessing : so it
is in following the conduct of a spiritual man, and
consulting Avith him in the matter of our souls; we
cannot do it unless we consider our souls, and make
religion our business, and examine our present state,
and consider concerning our danger, and watch and
design for our advantages, which things of them-
selves will set a man much forwarder in the way of
godliness ; besides, that naturally every man will less
dare to act a sin, for which he knows he shall feel a
present shame in his discoveries made to the spiritual
guide, the man that Is made the witness of his con-
versation, Tot/c s» A/oc>rtg e'tof '"^r* !r*^6'ogi^* Holl^ men Ollght

to know all things from God, and that relate to God,
in order to the conduct of souls. And there is noth-
ing to be said against this, if we do not suffer the
devil iu this affair to abuse us, as he does many peo-
ple in their opinions, teaching men to suspect there
is a design and a snake under the plantain. But so
may they suspect kings when they command obe-
dience, or the Levites when they read the law of
tithes, or parents when they teach their children
temperance, or tutors when they watch their charge.
However, it is better to venture the worst of the
design, than to lose the best of the assistance : and
he that guides himself hath much work, and inuch
danger; but he that is under the conduct of anoth-
er, his work Is easy, little and secure ; it is nothing
but diligence and obedience : and though it be a
hard thing to rule well, yet nothing is easier than to
follow, and be obedient.

* Sophocl.

!Serm. XXIf. of christiaiv prudenck. 419

SERMON XXII.

PART III.

7. As it is a part of Christian prudence to take in-
to the conduct of our souls a spiritual man for a guide ;
so it is also of great concernment that we be pru-
dent in the choice of him whom we are to trust in so
great an interest.

Concernina: which it will be imoosslble to g-ive
characters and significations particular enou:^h to en-
able a choice, without the interval assistances of
prayer, experience, and the grace of God. He that
describes a man, can tell you the colour of his hair,
his stature and proportion, and describe some general
lines, enough to distinguish him from a Cyclops or a
Saracen: but when you chance to see the man, you
will discover figures or little features, of which the
description had produced in you no phantasm or ex-
pectation. And in the exteriour significations of a
sect, there are more semblsnces than in mens' faces,
and greater uncertainty in tlie signs ; and what ig
faulty strives so craftily to act the true and proper
images of things ; and the more they are defective
in circumstances the more curious they are in forms,
and they also use such arts of gaining proselytes,
which are of most advantage towards an effect, and
therefore such which the true Christian ought to
pursue, and the apostles actually did ; and they strive
to follow their patterns in arts of persuasion, not
only because they would seem like them, but be-
cause they can have none so good, so etfective to
their purposes; that it follows, that it is not more a
duty to take care that we be not corrupted with false

42« OP CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. iSfenn. XXII.

teachers, than that we be not abused with false
signs : for we as well find a good man teaching a
false proposition, as a good cause managed by ill
men : and a holy cause is not always dressed with
healthful symptoms, nor is there a cross always set
upon the doors of those congregations who are in-
fected with the plague of heresy.

When St. John was to separate false teachers from
true, he took no other course but to remark the doc-
trine which was of God, and that should be the maik
of cognizance, to distinguish right shepherds from rob-
bers and invaders : Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in thefiesh^ is of God; He that
deniethit, is not of God. By this, he bids his scholars
to avoid the present sects o{ Ebion, Cerinthis^ Simon
Magus., and such other persons as denied that Christ
was at all before he came, or that he came really in
the flesh and proper humanity. This is a clear note,
and they that conversed with St. John., or believed
his doctrine, were sufTicientiy instructed in the pre-
sent questions. But this note will signify nothing
to us ; for all sects of Christians confess Jesus Christ
come in the /lesh^ and the following sects did avoid
that rock over which a great apostle had hung out
so plain a lantern.

In the following ages of the church, men have
been so curious to signify misbelievers, that they
have invented and observed some sio;ns which indeed
in some cases were true, real appendages of false
believers: but yet such which were also, or might
be, common to them with good men and members
of the catholick church. Some few I shall remark,
and give a short account of them, that by removing
the uncertain, we may fix our inquiries and direct
them by certain slgnilicatlons ; lest this art of pru-
dence turn into foliy and faction, errour and secular
design.

Skrm. XXIL of christian prudence. 421

1. Some men distinguish errour from truth by
calhng their adversaries' doctrine, itew and of yester-
day. And certainly this is a good sign, if it be right-
ly appHed : for since all Christian doctrine is tliat
■which Christ taught his church, and the Spirit enlarg-
ed or expounded, and the apostle delivered ; we are
to begin the Christian era for our faith, and parts of
religion, by the period of their preaching; our ac-
count begins then, and whatsoever is contrary to
what they taught is new and false, and whatsoever
is besides what they taught is no part of our religion ;
(and then no man can be prejudiced for believing it
or not) and if it be adopted into the confessions of the
church, the proposition is always so uncertain, that it
is not to be admitted into the faith : and therefore
if it be old in respect of our days, it is not therefore
necessary to be believed ; if it be new, it may be re-
ceived into opinion according to its probability, and
no sects nor interests are to be divided upon such ac-
counts. This only J desire to be observed, that
when a truth returns from banishment by a postli-
minium^ if it was from the first, though the holy fire
hath been buried, or the river ran under ground, yet
we do not call that new ; since newness is not to be ac-
counted of by a proportion to our short lived memo-
ries, or to the broken records and fragments of story
left after the inundation of barbarism and war, and
change of kingdoms, and corruption of authors ;
but by its relation to the fountain of our truths, and
the birth of our religion under our fathers in Christ,
the holy apostles and disciples. A camel was a new
thing to them that saw it in the fable ; but yet it was
created as soon as a cow or the domestick creatures :
and some people are apt to call every thing new
which they never heard of before, as if all religion
were to be measured by the standards of their ob-
servation or country customs. Whatsoever was not

422 ©F CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. SVl'Ml. XXIL

taught by Christ or his apostles, though it came in
by Papias or Dionysius, by ^rius or Lioerius, is cer-
tainly new as to our account ; and whatsoever is
taught to us by the doctors of the present age, if it
can shew its test from the beginning of our period
for revelation, is not to be called Jiew, though it be
pressed with a new zeal, and discoursed of by unheard
of arguments ; that is, though men be ignorant and
need to learn it, yet it is not therefore new or unne-
cessary.

2. Some would have false teachers sufficiently sig-
nified by a name, or the owning of a private appel-
lative, as of Papist^ Lutheran, Calvinist, Zuingltan,
Socinian ; and think it enough to denominate them
not of Christ, if they are called by the name of a
man. And indeed the thing is in itself ill : but then
if by this mark we shall esteem false teachers suffi-
ciently signified, we must follow no man, no church,
nor no communion j for all are by their adversaries
marked with an appellative of separation and sin-
gularity, and yet themselves are tenacious of a good
name, such as they choose, or such as is permitted
to them by fame, and the people, and a natural ne-
cessity of making a distinction. Thus the Donuiists
called themselves, the flock of God^ and the JYoiia-
tians called the Catholicks, Traditors, and the Evsta-
thians called themselves CathoUcks ; and the worship'
pers of images made Iconoclast to be a name of scorn ;
and men made names as they listed, or as the fate of
the market went. And if a doctor preaches a doc-
trine which another man likes not, but preaches the
contradictory, he that consents, and he that refuses,
have each of them a teacher ; by whose name, if they
please to wrangle, they may be signified. It was so
in the Corinthian church, with this only difference,
that they divided themselves by names which signi-
fied the same religion; I amof Paul^^and lofjipollos,

Serm. XXII. of christian prudenck. 423

mid I am of Peter, and I of Christ. These apostles
were ministers of Christ ; and so does every teacher,
new or old among the Christians, pretend himseli to
be. Let that therefore be examined : if he minis-
ters to the truth of Christ and the religion of his
master, let him be entertained a servant of the
Lord ; but if an appellative be taken from his name,
there is a faction commenced in it, and there is a
fault in the man if there be none in the doctrine: but
that the doctrine be true or false, to be received or
to be rejected, because of the name, is accidental
and extrinsical, and therefore not to be determined
by this sign.

3. Amongst some men, a sect is sufficiently
thought to be reproved, if it subdivides and breaks
into little fractions, or changes its own opinion. In-
deed, if it declines its own doctrine, no man hath
reason to believe them upon their word, or to take
them upon the stock of reputation, which (them-
selves being judges) they have forfeited and re-
nounced, in the changing that wliich at first they ob-
truded passionately. And therefore in this case
there is nothing to be done, but to believe the men
so far as they have reason to believe themselves ;
that is, to consider when they prove what they say :
and they that are able to do so, are not persons in
danger to be seduced by a bare authority unless
they list themselves ; for others that sink under an
unavoidable prejudice, God will take care for them,
if they be good people, and their case shall be con-
sidered by and by. But for the other part of the
sign, when men fall out among themselves for other
interests or opinions, it is no argument that they are
in an errour concerning that doctrine which they all
unitedly teach or condemn respectively ; but it hath
in it some probability that their union is a testimony
of truth, as ccrtainlv as that their fractions are a

424 OK CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Senrt. XXIL

testimony of their zeal, or honesty, or weakness, (as
it happens.) And if we Christians he too decretory
in tills instance, it will be hard lor any of us to keep
a Jew from making use of it against the whole reli-
gion, which from the days of the apostles hath, been
rent into innumerable sects and under sects, spring-
ing from mistake or interest, from the arts of the
devil or the weakness of man. But from hence we
may make an advantage in the way of prudence, and
become sure that all that doctrine is certainly true^ in
which the generality of Christians (who are divided
in many things, yet) do constantly agree : and that
that doctrine is also sufficients since it is certain that,
because in all communions and churches there are
some very good men, that do ail their duty to the
g-ettino; of truth, God will not fail in anv thing that
is necessary to them that honestly and heartily de-
sire to obtain it; and therefoie if they rest in the
heartiness of that, and live accordingly, and superin-
duce nothing to the destruction of that, they have
nothing to do but to rely upon God's goodness, and
if they perish, it is certain they cannot help it ; and
that is demonstration enough that they cannot pe-
rish, considering the justice and goodness of our Lord
and Judge.

4. Whoever break the bands of a society or com-
munion, and go out from that congregation in whose
confession they are baptized, do an intolerable scan-
dal to their doctrine and persons, and give suspi-
cious men reason to decline tlieir assemblies, and not
to choose them at all for any thing of their authority
or outward circumstances. And St. Paul bids the
Romans io mark them that cause divisions and offences :
but the following words make their caution prudent
and practicable, contrary to the doctrine ivhich ye have
learned^ and avoid them : they that recede from the
doctrine which they have learned, they cause the

Strm. XXIL of christian prudencs, 425

offence, and if tlioy also obtrude this upon their con-
gregations, they also make the division. For it is
certain, if we receive any doctrine contrary to wliat
Christ g-ave and the apostles taught, lor the autho-
rity of any man, then we call men^ masler, and leave our
master which is in heaven ; and in that case we must
separate from the congregation, and adhere to
Christ : but this is not to be done, unless the case be
evident and notorious. But as it is hard that the
publick doctrine of a church should be rifled, and
misunderstood, and reproved, and rejected, by any
of her wilful or ignorant sons and daughters: so it
is also as hard that they should be bound not to see,
when the case is plain and evident. There may be
mischiefs on both sides : but the former sort of
evils men may avoid if they will ; for they may be
humble and modest, and entertain better opinions of
their superiours than of themselves, and in doubtful
things give them the honour of a just opinion; and
if they do not do so, that evil will be their own pri-
Vate : for, that it become not publirk, the king and
the bishop are to take care. But for the latter sort
of evil, it will certainly become universal ; if (I say)
an authoritative false doctrine be imposed, and is to
be accepted accordingly : for then all men shall be
bound 1o profess against their conscience, that Is,
ivith their mouths not to confess unto salvation, what icith
their hearts they believe unto righteousness. The best
way of remedying both the evils is, that governours
lay no burthen of doctrines or laws but what are ne-
cessary or very profitable ; and that inferiours do
not contend for things unnecessary, nor call any
thing necessary that is not : till then there will be
evils on both sides. And although the governours
are to carry the question in the point of law, reputa-
tion and publick government ; yet as to God's ju-
dicature they will bear the bigger load, who in his

VOL. IT. 5^

-126 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDESTCE. Scrm. XXII.

right do him an injury, and bj the impresses of his
authority destroy his truth. But in this case also,
although separating be a suspicious thing and into-
lerable, unless it be when a sin is imposed ; yet to
separate is also accidental to truth : for some men
separate with reason, sonie men against reason.
Therefore here all the certainty that is in the things
is, when the truthis secured^ and all the security to the
men will be in the humility of their persons, and the
heartiness and simplicity of their intention, and dili-
gence of inquiry. The church of England had reason
to separate from the confession and practices of Rome
in many particulars : and yet if her children separate
from her, they may be unreasonable and impious.

5. The ways of direction which we have from
Holy Scripture, to distinguish false apostles from
true, are taken from their doctrine, or their lives.
That of the doctrine is the more sure way, if we
can hit upon it; but that also is the thing signified,
and needs to have other signs. St. John and St.
Paid iook this way, for they were able to do it in-
fallibly. All that confess Jesus incarnate are of God,
said St. John : those men that deny it, are hereticks;
avoid them. And St. Paid bids to observe them that
cause divisions and offences against the doctrine deliver-
ed: them also avoid that do so. And we mitcht do so as
easily as they, if the world would only make their de-
j)0situm that doctrine which they delivered to all
men,thatis,//iecrce</;andsupcrinducenothingelse,but
suffer Christian faith to rest in its own perfect simplici-
ty, unmingled with a/ts, and opinions, and interests.
This course is plain and easy, and 1 will not intricate
it with more words, but leave it directly in its own
truth and certainty, with this only direction ; that
when we are to choose our doctrine or our side, we
take that which is in the plain unexpounded words
©f scripture J for in that only our religion can con-

Serm, XXIL op enRisTiAU prudence. 427

sist. Secondly, choose that which is most advanta-
geous to a holy life, to the proper graces of a Chris-
tian, to humility, to charity, to forgiveness and alms,
to obedience, and complying with governments, to
the honour of God and the exaltation of his attributes,
and to the conservation and advantages of the pub-
lick societies of men ; and this last St. Paul directs,
Let us be careful to niaintam good works for necessary
uses : for he that heartily pursues these proportions
cannot be an ill man, though he were accidentally and
in the particular explications deceived.

6. Hut because this is an act oi wisdom rather than
pnidcnce, and supposes science or knowledge rather
than experience ; tiierefore it concerns tlie prudence
of a Christian to observe the practice and the rules of
practice, their lives and pretences, the designs and
colours, the arts of conduct, and gaining proselytes,
•which their doctors and catechists do use in order to
their purposes, and in their ministry about souls.
For although many signs are uncertain, yet some
are infallible, and some are highly probable.

7. Therefore those teachers that pietend to be
guided by a private spirit, arc certainly false doctors.
1 remember what Simmias m Plutarch tells concern-
ing Socrates, that if he heard any man say, he saw a
divine vision, he presently esteemed him vain and
proud ; but if he pretended only to have heard a
voice or a word of God, he listened to that religious-
ly, and would inquire of him with curiosity. There
was some reason in his fancy ; for God docs not com-
municate himself by the eye to men, but by the ear :
Ye saw no figure, hut ye heard a voice, said Jlloses to
the people concerning God. And therefore if any
man pretends to speaK the word of God, Ave will
inquire concerning it; the man may the better be
heard, because he may be ceitainly reproved if he
speaks amiss : but if he pretends to visions and

428 OP CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. i:}er7n. XXtt^

revelations, to a private spirit and a mission extraordi-^
miry, the man Is proud and unlearned, vicious and
impudent. J^o Scripture is of private interpretaiiony
(saith St. Pet'^r^ that is, private emission ov declaration.
God's words were dehvered indeed by single men. but
such as were publickly designed prophets, remarked
with a known character, approved of bj the high,
priest and Sanhedrim, endued with a publick spirit,
and hiS doctrines were always agreeable to the other
Scriptures. But if any man pretends now to the
spirit, either it must be a private or publick. If it be
private, it can but be useful to himself alone, and it
may cozen him too, if it be not assisted by the spirit
of a publick man. But if it be a publick spirit, it
must enter in at the publick door of ministeries and.
divine ordinances, of God's grace and man's endea-i
vour ; it must be subject to the prophets ; it is discerni-s
ble and judicable by them, and therefore may b©
rejected, and then it must pretend no longer. Fot
he that will pretend to an extraordinary spirit, and
refuses to be tried by the ordinary ways, must either
prophecy, or work miracles, or must have a voice
from heaven to give him testimony. The piophets
in the Old Testament, and the apostles in the New^
and Christ between both, had no other way of extra--
ordinary probation ; and they that pretend to any
thino- extraordinary, cannot, ought not to be believ-
ed, unless they have something more than their own
word. If I bear witness of myself my ivitness is not
true, said truth itself, our blessed Lord, But second-
ly, they that intend to teach by an extraordinary
spirit, if they pretend to teach according to Scripture,
miist be examined by the measures of Scripture,
and then their extraordinary must be judged by their
ordinary spirit, and stands or fails by the rules of
every good man's re'igion, and publick government;
and then we are well enough. But if they speak
5iny thing against Scripture, it is the spirit of anti-

Serm. XXII. of christian prudence. 429

chrlst, and the spirit of the devil : for if an angel from
heaven (lie ceitainlv is a spirit) preach any other doc-
trine, let him be accursed.

But this pretoiice of a single and extraordinary
spirit is nothing else but the spirit of pride, erroiir,
and delusion, a snare to catch easy and credulous
souls, which are willing to die for a gaj word and a
distorted face; it is the parent of folly and giddy
doctrine, impossible to be proved, and therefore use-
less to all purposes of religion, reason, or sober
counsels ; it is like an invisible colour, or musick
"without a sound ; it is, and indeed is so intended to
be, a direct overthrow of order, and government,
and publick niinisteries : it is bold to say any thing,
and resolved to prove nothing; it imposes upon wil-
ling people after the same manner thai oracles and the
lying demons did of old time, abusing men, not by
proper efficacy of its own, but because the men loved
to be abused : it is a great disparagement to the suf-
ficiency of Scripture, and asperses the divine provi-*
dence, for giving so many ages of the church an im-
perfect religion, expressly against the truth of their
words, who said, they had declared the whole truth of
God, and told all the icillof God : and it is an aiTront
to the spirit of God, the spirit of wisdom and know-
ledge, of order and publick ministeries. But the will
furnishes out malice, and the understandino: sends out
levity, and they marry, and pioduce a fantaslick
dream ; and the daughter, sucking wind instead of
the milk of the word, ^Yows up to madness, and the
spirit of reprobation. Besides all this, an extraordi-
nary spirit is extremely necessary, and God does
not give immission and miracles from heaven to no
purpose, and to no necessities of his church; for the
supplying of which, he hath given apostles and evan-
gelists, prophets and pastors, bishops and priests, the
spirit of ordination, and the spirit of instruction, cate-

4.3() OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Scrm. XXIL

ehists and teachers^ arts and sciences, Scriptures, and a
tonstant succession of expositors, the testimony of
churches, and a constant line of tradition, or dehvery
of apostolical doctrine in ail things necessary to sal-
vation. And after all this, to have a fungus arise
from the belly of mud and darkness, and nourish a
glow-worm, that shall challenge to out-shine the lan-
tern of God's ivord^ and all the candles which God .9Ci?
npon a hUL and all that the spirit hath set upon the
candleHicks, and all the stars of Christ's right hand ; is
to annul all the excellent, established, orderly and
^certain elTects of the spirit of God, and to worship
the false fires of the night. He therefore that will
follow a i^'uide that leads him by an extraordinary
spirit, shall go an extraordinary w^ay, and have a
str'in7e fortune, and a singular religion, and a por-
tion by himself, a great way off from the common
inbc! stance of the saints, who are all led by the spirit
of God^ and have one heart and one mind, one faith
and one hope, the same baptism, and the helps
of the ministery, leading them to the common coun-
try, which is tiie portion of all that are the sons of
adoption, consigned by the spirit of God, the earnest
of their inheritance.

Concerniiig the pretence of a private spirit for
inter{)retation of the confessed doctrine of God, (the
holy Scriptures,) it will not so easily come into this
question of ciioosing our spiritual guides ; because
every person that can be a candidate in this ofiice, that
can be chosen to guide others, must be a publick man,>.
that is, of a holy callino;, sanctitied or separate pub-
lickly to the office ; and then to interpret is part of
his calling and employment, and to do so, is the work
of a pr.biick spirit ; he is ordained and designed, he
is commanded and enabled to do it: and in tliis there
is no other caution to bo ii^teiposed. but that the more
pubiick thtt man is, of the more authority his intejg=-

Serm. XXtJ. of cmristiajt prudence. 431

pretatlon is ; and he comes nearest to a law of order,
and in the matter of government is to be observed:-
but the moic holy and die more learned the man is,
his intcipretation in matter of question is more likely
to be true ; and though less to be pressed as to the
publick confession, yet it may be more < fiective to a
private persuasion, provided it be done without scan-
dal, or lessening the authority, or disparagement to
the more publick person.

8. Those are to be suspected for evil guides, who,
io get authority among the people, pretend a great
zeal, and use a bold liberty in reproving princes
and governours, nobility and prelates ; for such homi-
lies cannot be the effects of a holy religion, which lay
a snare for authority, and undermine power, and dis-
content the people, and make them bold against
kings, and immodest in their own stations, and trouble
the government. Such men may speak a truth, or
teacli a true doctrine; for every such design does
not unhallow the truth of God ; but they take some
truths, and force them to minister to an evil end.
But therefore mingle not in the communities of such
men, for they will make it a part of your religion, to
prosecute tliat end openly, whii h they by arts of the
tempter have insinuated privately.

But if ever you enter into the seats of those doc-
tors that speak reproachfully of their supeiiours, or
detract from government, or love to curse the kinu; in
their hearty or slander him with their mouths, or dis-
grace their person, bless yourselves and retire quick-
ly : for there dwells the plague, but the spirit of God
is not president of the assembly. And therefore you
shall observe in all the characters which the apostles
of our Lord made, for describing and avoiding socie-
ties of hereticks, false guides and bringers in of strange
doctrines, stiil they reckon treason and rebellion. So
St. Paul; In the last days perilous times shall cQ?ne ;

43*2 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Scmi, XXtt*

then men shall have the form of godliness^ and deny the
power of it ;* they shall be traitors^ heady^ high-minded ;
that is the characteristick note. vSo St. Peter ; The
Lord know eth how to deliver the godly out of tempta^
lions 1 and to reserve the unjust unto the day ofjndgmefit^
to be punished : but chief y them that ivalk after the fleshy
in the lust of uncleatmess, ajid despise government : pre-
sumptuous are they, selfivilled, they are not afraid to
speak evil of dignities, "t The same also is recorded
and observed by St. Jiide ; Likeivise also these filthy
dreamers defile the flesh., despise dominion^ and speak evil
of dignities-X These three testimonies are but the
declaration of one great contingency; they are the
same prophecy declared by three apostolical men,
that had the gift of pro[)hecy : and by this character,
the Holy Ghost in all ages hath given us caution to
avoid such assemblies, where the speaking and ruling
man shall be the canker of government, and a
preacher of sedition, who shall either ungirt the
prince's sword, or unloose the button of their mantle.
9. But the apostles in all these prophecies, hare
remarked lust to be the inseparable companion of
these rebel prophets : They are filthy dreamers., they
defile the flesh, so St. Mide ; They ivalk after the fiesh,
in the lust of uncleanness, so St. Peter. They are lovers
of pleasure more than lovers of God, incontinent and sen-
sual, so St. Paul. And by this part of the character,
as the apostles remarked, the JYicolaitans, the Gnos-
ticks, the Carpocratians, and all their impure branches
which began in their days, and multiplied after their
deaths ; so they prophetically did fore-signify all
such sects to be avoided, who, to catch silly women
laden tvitk sins, preach doctrines of ease and licen-
tiousness, apt to countenance and encourage vile
things, and not apt to restrain a passion, or mortify

* 2 Tira. iii. 1, &c. f 2 Pet. ii. 9, 10. t J«de v. 8.

t'llerm. XXIL of christian prudence. 438

a sin : such as those ; That God sees no sin in his chil-
dren ; that no sin will take us iioin God's favour; that
all of such a party are elect peo|)lc : that God lequiies
of us nothing but faith; and tiiat failh which justi-
fies is nothino; but a mere believinj]: tliat we are God's
chosen ; that we are not tied to the law of command-
ments ; that the law of grace is a law of liberty, and
that liberty is to do what we list; that divorces are
to be granted upon many and slight causes ; that
simple tornication is no sin. These arc such doc-
trines, tliatupon the belief of them many men may do
any thing, and will do that which shall satisfy their
own desires, and promote their interests, and seduce
their she-disciples. And indeed it was not vviliiout
great reason that these three apostles joined lust and
treason together. Because the former is so shame-
ful a crime, and renders a man's spirit naturally
averse to government, that if it falls upon the per-
son of a ruler, it takes from him the spirit of govern-
ment, and renders him dijjidenl^ pusillammous^ pri-
vate^ and ashamed: if it happen in the person of a
subject, it makes him hate the man that shall shame
him and punish him; it hates the light and the sun,
because that opens him, and tnerefore is much more
against government ; because that publishes and pu-
nishes too. One thing 1 desire to be observed, tliat
though the primitive heresies now named, and all
those others, their successors, practised and taught
horrid impurities, yet they did not invade govern~
ment at all; and therefore those sects that these
apobtles did signify by prophecy, and in whom both
these are concentrated, were to appear in some lat-
ter times, and the days of the prophecy were not
then to be fultilled: what they are since, every
age must judge by its own experience, and for its
own interest. But Christian religion is so pure and
holy, that chastity is sometimes used for th« >vUol©
VOL. II. 56

434 OP CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. SeriJi. XXIL

religion ; and to do an act chastely signifies purify of
intention^ abstraction from the world, and separation
from low and secular ends, the virginity of the soul,
and its 'zm^'on with God; and all deviotions and es-
trangements from God, and adhesion to forbidden ob-
jects, is called fornication and adidtery.* 7'hose sects
therefore that teach, encourage, or pi actise impious
or unhallowed mixtures and shameful lusts, are issues
of the impure spirit, and most contrary to God, who
can behold no unclean thing.

10. Those prophets and pastors that pretend se-
veril)', and live loosely, or are severe in small things,
and give liberty in gi eater, or forbid some sii;s with
extreme rigour, and yet practise or teach those that
serve there interest or constitute their sect, are to be
suspected and avoided accordingly. JVihilest homi-
num inepta persuasione folsiiis^ nee Jicta severitate inep-
tius. All ages of the church were extremely curious
to observe, when the new teachers did arise, what
kind of lives they lived ; and if they pretended se-
verely and to a strict life, then they knew their dan-
ger doubled: for it is certain all that teach doctrines
contrary to the established religion delivered by the
apostles, all they are evil men. God will not sutfer
a good man to be seduced damnably, much less can
he be a seducer of others ; and therefore you shall
still observe the false apostles to be furious, and ve-
■ hement in their reproofs, and severe in their animad-
versions of others ; but then if you watch their pri-
vate, or stay till their numbers are full, or observe
their spiritual habits, you shall find them indulgent to
themselves, or to return from their disguises, or so
spiritually wicked, that their pride or their revenge^
their envy or their detraction^ their scorn or their com-
placency in themselves, their desire of pre-erninence and

'■^- Eloquia Domini, casta eloquia.

Serm. XXII. of christian prudence. 4«i>

their impatience o{ a rival, sliall place them far enough
in distance from a poor carnal sinner, whom they
sliall load with censures and an upbraiding scorn;
but themselves are like devils, the spirits 'of dark-
ness, the spiritual wickednesses, in hia^h places. Some
sects of men are very angry a^iainst scivants for
recreating and easing their lubouis with a less
prudent and unseveie refreshment: but the patrons
of their sects shall oppress a wicked man and unbe-
heving person ; they shall chastise a drunkard, and
entertain murmurs; they shall not abide an oath,
and yet shall force men to break three or four. This
sect is to be avoided, because although it is good to
be severe against carnal or bodily sjus, yet it is not
good to mingle with them who chastise a bodily sin
to make way for a spiritual ; or reprove a servant,
that his lord may sin alone; or punish a stranger and
a beggar that will not approve their sin, but will
have sins of his own. Concerning such persons, St.
Pa?// hath told us, that they shall not proceed far, but
their folly shall be manifest, 'om>.ov ;tc"''""^"i'*'''' «"' "^'^ 'arKMcttr^at
Tsi-T/joT-ovToyttyTcy, said Lysias. Cito ad naturam ficta reci-
derunt suam. They that dissemble their sin and
their manners, or make severity to serve looseness,
and an imaginary virtue to minister to a real vice;
they that abhor idols, and would commit sacrilege,
chastise a drunkard, and promote sedition, declaim
ao-ainst the vanity of great persons, and then spoil
them of their goods, reform manners, and engross
estates, talk godly, and do impiously ; these are
teachers Avhich the holy spirit of God hath by these
apostles bid us to beware of and decline, as we would
run from the hollowness of a grave, or the despairs
and sorrows of the damned.

11. The substance of all, is this, that we must not
choose our doctrine by our guide, but our guide by
the doctrine ; and if we doubt concernijiig the doc-

4Sfi ov CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Serm. XXIL

trine, wc may judge of (hat by the lives and designs
of the teachers : Bi/ their frvitsyon shall know them;
and by the phiin words of the scripture, by the apos-
tles' creed, and by the commandments, and by the
certain known and estabhshed forms of government.
Tiiese aie the great indices and so plain, apt and
easy, that he that is deceived is so because he will
be so ; he is betrayed into it by his own lust, and a
voluntary chosen folly.

12. Besides tliese premises there are other little
candles that can help to make the judgment clearer;
but they are sucli as do not signify alone, but in con-
junction with some of the precedent characters
Avhiv^h are drawn by the great lines of scripture.
Such as are, I. When the teachers of sects stir up
unprofitable and useless questions. 2. When they
causelessly retire from the universal customs of
Christendom. 3. And cancel ail the memorials of
the greatest mysteries of our redemption. 4. When
their confessions and catechisms and their whole
relii>'ion consists jv yim^it, in speculations and effective
notions, in discourses of angels and spirits, in ab-
stractions and raptures, in things they understand
not, and of which they have no revelation. 5. Or else
if their reli<>-ion spends itself in ceremonies, outward
guises, and matejial solemnities, and impeifect forms,
drawing the heart of the vine forth into leaves and
irre"-u!ar fruitless suckers, turning the substance in-
to circumstances, and the love of God into gestures,
and the effect of the spirit into the impertinent
ofiices of a burthensome ceremonial: for by these
two particulars the apostles reproved the Jeics and
t'le Gaos:iiks, or those that from the school o( Pytha-
goras pretended conversation with angels, and great
knowledge of the secrets of the spirits, choosing tu-
telar an'^'-ois, and assigning them offices and charges,
^s ia the church of Rome to this day they do to

Serm. XXIT. of christian prudence. 43?

saints. To these add, 6. That we observe whether
tile ((uides of souls avoid to sLiiler for their religion ;*
for then the matter is fonl, or tlio man not fit to lead,
that daies not die in cold blood" for his religion.
Will the man lay his life and his soul upon the pro-
position ? If so, then you may consider him upon
his proper grounds; hut if he refuses that, refuse
his Conduct sure enough. 7. You may also watch
whether they do not choose their proselytes among
the rich and vicious ; that they may serve themselves
upon his wealth, and their disciple upon his vice. 8,
li tiieir doctrines evidently and greatly serve the
interest of wealth or honour, and are inefTeclive to
piety. 9. If they strive to gain any one to their
Confession, and are neirlijient to o:ain them to eood
life. 10. If by pretences they lessen the severity
of Christ's precepts, and are easy in dispensations
and licentious glosses. 11. If they invent supplete-
ries to excuse an evil man, and yet to reconcile his
bad life with the hopes of heaven ; you have reason
to suspect the whole, and to reject these parts of
errour and design which in themselves are so un-
handsome always, and sometimes criminal. He that
shall observe the church of Rome so implacably
fierce for purgatory and the pope's supremacy, for
clerical innnunities and the supeiioi ity of the eccle-
siastical persons to secular, for indulgences and pre-
cious and costly pardons, and then so full of devices
to reconcile an evil life with heaven, requiring only
contrition even at the last, for the abolition of eternal
guilt, and having a thousand "ways to commute and
take off the temporal; will see he hath reason to be
Jealous that interest is in these biir£:er than the reli-

o&

gion, and yet that the danger of the soul is greater
than that interest ; and therefore the man is to do
accordingly.

■■' Colloss. ij.

438 jof christian prudence. Senn. XXII.

Here indeed is the great necessity that we should
have the prudence and discretion, the ^i^iieKi; of ser-
pents.

magis ut cernainus aciitum

Quam aut aquilaaiil serpens Epidaurius *

For so serpents, as they are curious to preserve
their heads froai contrition or a briiise, so also to
safeguard themselves that they be not charmed with
sweet and enticing words of false prophets, who
charm not wiselii^ but cunningly^ leading aside nnsia-
ble souls : against these we must stop our ears, of
lend our attention, accordina: to the forearoino: mea-
surcs and significations. But here also 1 am to m-
sert two or three cautions.

1. We cannot expect that by these or any other
si2:ns we shall be enabled to discover concerning: all
men whether they teach an errour or no : neither
can a man by these reprove a Lutheran or a Ztiingli-
an, a Dominican or a Franciscan, a Russian or a
GreeJc^ a Muscovite or a Georgian ; because those
that are certain signs of false teachers, do signify
such men who destroy an article of faith or a com-
mandment. God was careful to secure us from death
by removing tlie lepers from the camp, and giving
certain notices of distinction, and putting a term be-
tween the living and the dead: but he was not pleas-
ed to secure every man from innocent and harnilcss
errours, from, the mistakes of men, and the failings
of mortality: the signs which can distitiguish a liv-
ing man tVom a dead, will not also distinguish a bisck
man from a brown, or a j)ale from a white : it is enough
that we decline those guides that lead us to hell, but
not to think that we are enticed to death by the
weaknesses of every disagreeing brother.

* Hor. Lib. I. Sat. 3. 26,
Why so sliarp-siglited in aiiotiior's fame.
Strong as an eagle's ken, or dragon's beam. Francj§.

Sei^m. XXII. OF CHRISTIAN prudence. 439

2. Ill all discerning of sects wc must be careful
to dislino-uisli the faults of men from the evils of
their doctrit.e ; for so!iie there are that say very
well, and do very ill; «'rf>«g

Multos Thyrsigeros, paucos est cernere Bacchos

Many'men of holy calling and holy religion^ that
are of unholy lives ; homines ignava opera, philosophia
sentcntia. But these must be separated from tlse in-
stitution: and the evil of the men is only to be no-
ted, as that such persons be not taken to our sirigle
conduct and personal ministry. I will be of the
man's religion if it be good, though he be not; but
I will not make him my confessor. uiaa> <»<p<9-T«y, octtk wx
s^uTu, trocpoi, if he be not wise for himself I will not sit
down at his feet, lest we mingle iilthiness instead of
being cleansed and instructed.

3. Let us make our separation more, and than we
may consider and act according to the premises. If
we espy a design or an evil mark upon one doctrine,
let us divide it from the other that are not so spotted.
For indeed the publlck communions of men are at
this day so ordered, that they are as fond of their
errours as of their truths, and sometimes most zeal-
ous for what they have felt reason to be so. And
if we can by any arts of prudence separate from an
evil proposition, and communicate in all the good,
then we may love colleges of religious persons,
though we do not Avoi-ship images ; and we may
obey our prelates, though we do no injury to prin-
ces ; and we may be zealous against a crime,
though Ave be not imperious over men's persons;
and we may be diligent in the conduct of souls,
though we be not rapacious of estates : and we may
be moderate exactors of obedience to human laAVs,

440 OF CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. Semi. XXIL

though we do not dispense with the breach of the
divice ; and the clergy may represent' their calling
necessary, though their persons be full of modesty
and humility : and we may preserve our lights,
and not lose our charily. For this is the mean-
ing of the apostle, 7Vy all things and retain that
which is good: from every sect and community
of Christians take any thing that is good, that
advances holy religion, and the divine honour.
For one hath a better government, a second a bet-
ter confession, a third hath excellent spiritual arts
for the conduct of souls, a fourth hath a fewer er-
rours; and by what instrument soever a holy life is
advantaged, use that, though thou grindest thy spears
and arrows at the ibr2;es of the Philistines : knowino;
thou hast no master but Christ, no religion but the
Christian, no rule but the Scriptures, and the laws
and right reason : other things that are helps, are to
be used accordingly.

These are the general rules of Christian prudence
which I have chosen to insist upon: there are many
others more particular indeed, but yet worth not
only the enumerating, but observing also, and that
they be reduced to practice. For the prudence of
a Christian does oblige and direct respectively all
the children of the institution, that we be careful to
decline a danger, watcliful against a temptation, al-
wavs choosing that that is safe, and fitted to all cir-
cumstances ; that we be wise in choosing our com-
pany, reserved and wary in our friendships, and com-
municative in our charity; that we be silent and re-
terjtive of what we hear and what we think, not cre-
dulous, not inconstant; that we be deliberate in our
election, and vigorous in our prosecutions; that
we sutfer not good nature to discompose our duty,
but that we separate images from substances, and
the pleasing of a present company from our religion

Scrm. XXn. of christian prudence. 441

to God and our eternal Interest ; for sometimes that
whicli is counsel led to us by Christian prvdcnce is ac-
counted foil)' by human prudence., and so it is ever
accounted when our duty leads us into a persecu-
tion. Hither also appertain, that we never do a
thing that we know we must repent of; that we do
not admire too many things, nor any thing too irmch ;
that we be even in prosperity, a[jd patient in ad-
versity, but transpoited with neither into the regions
of despair or levity, pusillanimity or tyranny, dejec-
tion or garishness; always to look upon the scar
we have impressed upon our flesh, and no more to
handle dangers and knives; to abstain from ambi-
tious and vexatious suits; not to contend with a migh-
ty man ; even to listen to him who (according to the
proverb) hath four ears., reason., religion.., ivisdom., and
experience ; rather to lose a benefit, than to suffer a
detriment and an evil; to stop the beginnings of
evil; to pardon and not to observe all the faults of
friends or enemies ; of evils to choose the least, and
of goods to choose the greatest, if it be also safest ;
not to be insolent in success, but to proceed accord-
ing to the probability of human causes and contin-
gencies; ever to be thankful for benefits, and profita-
ble to others, and useful in all that we can ; to watch
the seasons and circumstances of actions ; to do that
willingly which cannot be avoided, lest the necessity
serve another's appetite, and it be lost to all our Yiuv-
"poses^ Insignis enim est prudentiae., ut quod non facer e
non possis., id ita facere ut libentcr fccisse videaris ; not
to pursue difficult, uncertain and obscure things with
violence and passion. These, if we observe, we shall
do advantage to ourselves and to the religion ; and
avoid those evils which fools and unwary people suf-
fer for nothing, dying or bleeding without cause and
without pity. I end this with the saying o( Socrates,

VOL. II. ^7

442 OF cHRiSTrAN PRUDENCE. Semi. XXII.

Virtue is but a shadow and a servile employment., unless
it be adorned and instructed with prudence., which
gives motion and conduct, spirits and vigorousness
to rehgion, making it not only human and reasonable,
but divine and celestial.

*Plat. Phaedo.

SERMON XXIir.

OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY,

Matthew x. latter part of veu. 16.
And harmless as doves.

Our blessed Savionr, havin^^ prefaced concerning
prudence, adds to tiic integrity of" the precept, and
ibr the conduct of our rehgion, that we be simple
as well as prudent, innocent as well as wary. Harm-
less and safe together do well ; for without this
blessed union prudence turns into craft, and sim-
plicity degenerates into folly. Prudens siniplicitas is
MartiaVs character of a good man ; a wary and cau-
tioiis innocence, a harmless prudence and provision;
vera simplicitate bonus. A true simplicity is that
which leaves to a man arms defensive, his castles
and strong forts ; but takes away his swords and
spears, his anger and his malice, his peevishness and
spite. But such is the misery and such is the ini-
quity of mankind, that craft hath invaded all the con-
tracts and intercourses of men, and made simplicity
so weak a thing, that it is grown into contempt, some-
times with, and sometimes without reason : et homines
simplices, rninivie malos, the Romans called parum can-
ios, saepe stolidos ; unwary fools^ and defenceless

414 OF CHRISTIAN" siMrLiciTY. Seriii. XXIIJ

people were called simple. And when the Innocence
ol the old simple Romans in Junius Brutus' time, in
Fabricius and Cajmllus, began to degenerate, and to
need the jhjuilian Law to force men to deal honest-
ly; quickly the mischief increased, till i\iG JiquiUan
law grew as much out of power as honesty was out
of countenance. And there, and every where else,
men thought they got a purchase when they met
with an honest man : and »M^tov ^'Iristotle calls ;tg«o-T6v, and
T3V oeyiKov Kit Tov f^AvMovf uTrhMv. ^ fool is a profitable person,
and he that is simple is little better than mad; and
so it is when simplicity wants prudence. He that, be-
cause he means honestly himself, thinks every man
else does so, and therefore is unwary in all or any of
his intercourses, is a simple man in an evil sense ;
and therefore St. Gregory JVaziunzen remarks Con-
stantius with a note of folly, for suffering his easy
nature to be abused by Georgius, otK^w^i tw /g*^/«»c

princess simpliciiy^ so he calls it for reverence ; but in-
deed it was folly, for it was zeal without knovvledo-e.
But it was a better temper which he observed in his
own latiier, « aTrxoTna-T kai to tou j;63:/c aioMv, sucli a simplicity
which only wanted craft or deceit^ but wanted no pru-
dence or caution : and that is truly Christian simplici-
ty^ or the sincerity of an honest, and ingenuous, and
a fearless person ; and it is a rare band, not only of
societies and contracts, but also of friendships and
advantages of mankind.

We do not live in an age in which there is so much
need to bid men be wary, as to take care that they
be innocent. Indeed in religion we arc usually too
loose and ungirt, exposing ourselves to temptation,
and others to olFence, and our name to dislionour, and
the cause itself to reproach, and we are open and
ready to every evil but persecution : from that we

* Oral. 21.

Serm.XXIII. of caristian simplicity-- 445

are close enough, and that alone we call prudence;
but in the matter of interest we are wary as serpents,
subtle as foxes, vigilant as the birds of the night,
rapacious as kites, tenacious as grappling hooks and
the weightiest anchors, and, above all, false and
hypocritical as a thin crust of ice spread upon the
face of a deep, smooth and dissembling pit; if you set
your foot, your foot slips, or the ice breaks, and you
sink into death, and are wound in a sheet of water,
descending into mischief or your grave, sufiering a
great fall, or a sudden death, by your confidence and
unsuspecting foot. There is an universal crust of I
hypocrisy that covers the face of the greatest part of
mankind. Their religion consists in forms and
outsides, and serves reputation or a design, but does
not serve God. Their promises are but fair lan-
guage, and the civilities of piazzas or exchanges, and
disband and untie like the air that beats upon their
teeth when they speak the delicious and hopeful
words : their oaths are snares to catch men, and
make them confident : their contracts are arts and
stratagems to deceive, measured by profit and possi-
bility; and every thing is lawful that is gainful: and
their friendships arc trades of getting ; and their
kindness of watching a dying friend is but the office
of a vulture, the gaping for a legacy, the spoil of the
carcase: and their sicknesses are many times policies
of state ; sometimes a design to shew the riches of
our bed-chamber : and their funeral tears are but
the paranymphs,and pious solicitors of a second bride.
And every thing that is ugly must be hid, and
every thing that is handsome must be seen : and that
will make a fair cover for a huge deformity. And
therefore it is (as they think) necessary that men
should always have some pretences and forms, some
faces of religion or sweetness of language, confident
affiroialives or bold oaths, protracted treaties or mul-

446 OF cHRisTiAi? siMPLiciTr. Setm. XXUL

titude of words, affected silence or grave deportment,
a OQod name or a oood cause, a fair relation or a
woitliy calling, great power or a pleasant wit ; any
thing that can be fair or that can be useiul, any thing
that can do good or be thougiit good, we use it to
abuse our brother, or promote our interest. Lepo-
rina resolved to die, being troubled for her hus-
band's danger; and he resolved to die wiih her that
had so great a kindness for him, as not to outhve the
best of her husband's fortune. It was agreed ; and
she tempered the poison, and drank the face of the
unwholesome goblet; but the weighty poison sunk
to the bottom, and the easy man drank it all off, and
died, and the woman carried him forth to funeral,
and after a little illness, which she soon recovered,
she entered upon the inheritance, and a second mar-
riage.

Tula frequensque via est

It is a useful and a safe way to cozen, upon colour
of friendship or religion; but that is hugely criminal :
to tell a lie to abuse a man's belief, and by it to enter
upon any thing of his possession to his injury, is a
perfect destruction of all human society, the most
icrnoble of all human follies, perfectly contrary to
God, who is truth itself, the greatest argument of a
timorous and a base, a cowardly and a private mind,
not at all honest, or confident to see the sun, a y'lce, Jit
for slaves ; tr^inov k-m SGuxm^nrH, as Dio Clirysostomus calls it;

o«av 11*1 art ^Jtpimy t« SttA'^TATu x.^t u.yivviir'r'.pA, ^ct initva. ■^ivJ'iTsti TstvTcnv fxiiKtrrciy

Mt i^^TTATdL-'^ for the most timorous and the basest of beasts
use crafty and lie in wait, and take their prey, and
save their lives by deceit. And it is the greatest Injury
to the abused person in the world : for, besides that

* Dissert, i. ilc Rcsno.

Serm. XXIII. of christian simplicity. 447

it abuses his Interest, it also makes him for ever inse-
cure, and uneasy in his coniiclence, which is the peri-
od of cares, the rest of a man's spjrit; it makes it
necessary for a man to be jealous and suspicious, ihat
is, to be troublesome to himself and every man else:
and above all, lyino^, or craftiness, and nnfaitldul
usaofes, rob a man o( the honour of his soul, makinor
his understandmq useless and tn ilic condition of a
fool, spoiled, and dishonouied. and despised. n«r*
^vx>i <tKcuTsL tTTiguTti t;ic uKij^hw, said Plato ; Kvcrij soul loses
truth very itmvtlling'lij : every man is so great a lover
of trnlh, that if he hath it not, he loves to believe he
hath, and would fain have all the world to believe as
he does; either presuming that he hath truth, or
else hating to be deceived, or to beesfeemed a cheat-
ed and an abused person. A^ou licet suffurari mentem
hominis etiam Samaritani, said Moses; sed veritatem
loquere, atque oo-e ini(cnue ;* if a man be a Samaritan^
that is, a hated person, a person fiom whom you dilfer
in matter of religion, yet steal not his mind away, but
speak truth to him honestly and ingenuously. A
man's soul loves to dwell in truth, it is his restin^T-
place ; and if you take him from thence, you lake
nim into strange regions, a place of banishment atid
dishonour. Qui ignolos laedit^ Lairo appellatur ; qui
amicos. pernio minus guam parricida : He that hurts
strangers is a thief; but he that hurts his fiicnds is
little better than a parricide. That is the brand and
Stifrma of hypocrisy and lying : it hurts our friends,
jyiendacium in damnum pofcns^ and makes the man
that owns it guilty of a crime, that is to be punished
by the sorrows usually suffered in the most execra-
ble places of the cities. But I must reduce the duty
to particulars, and discover the contrary vice by the
several parts of its proportion.

* Can. Eth.

448 OP CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Servi. XXtll.

1. The first office of a Christian simplicity consists
in our religion and manners ; that ihej be open and
honest, publick and justifiable, the same at home and
abroad, for besides the ingenuity and honesty of this,
there is an indispensable and infinite necessity it
should be so ; because whoever is a hypocrite in his
religion, mocks God, presenting to him the outside,
and reserving the inward for his enemy ; which is
either a denying God to be the searcher of our hearts,
or else an open defiance of his omniscience and of his
justice. To provoke God, that we may deceive nien ;
to defy his aimightiness, that we may abuse our
brother ; is to destroy all that is sacred, all that is
prudent; it is an open hostility to all things human
and divine, a breaking from all the bands of all rela-
tions ; and uses God so cheaply, as if he were to be
treated or could be cozened like a weak man, and an
imdiscerning and easy merchant. But so is the life
of many men ;

Vi<a fallax, abdilcs scnsus gerens,
Nimisque ptilchram turpibus faciem indueus.

It is a crafty life that men live, carrying designs,
and living upon secret purposes. Pudor impudentem
celat, audacem qides^ pietas nefandum^ vera fallaccs pro-
bani-i simulantque molles dura. Men pi'ctend modesty,
and under tiiat red veil are bold against superiours ;
saucy to their betters upon pretences of religion; in-
vaders of other's rights by faise propositions in theo^
logy; pretending humility, they challenge superiority-
above all orders of men; and for being thought more
holi/^ think tliat they have title to govern the ivorld :
they bear upon their face great religion, and are im-
pious in their relations, false to their trust, unfaithful
to their friend, unkind to their dependants ; «<j>e«

ts-WKS^-jc, rntt TO pi>ovty.ov ^»TwflK sv to(c tsripiToLTi;, turUlHg Vp tUC

white of their eye, and seeking for reputation in the

Serm. XXIII. of christian simplicitt. 449

streets : so did some of the old hypocrites, the Gen-
tile Pharisees ; ./ispenmi crilhiin^ et intonsum caput,
necrlitrcntiorcm burbam et nit'uhim anrento odium ct
cubile hami positum^ ct (juicquid uliud ambitioncm via
perversa sequilur ; beini^ the softest persons under an
austere habit, the loosest livers under a contracted
brow, under a pale face having tlie reddest and most
sprightly livers. These kind of men have abused all
ages of the world, and all religions; it being so easy
in nature, so prepared and ready for mischiefs, that
men should creep into opportunities of devouring the
flock upon pretence of defending them, and to raise
their estates upon colour of saving their souls.

Introrsum turpes, speciosi pelle decora.*

Men that are like painted sepulchres^ entertainment
for the eye, but images of death, chambers of rotten-
ness and repositories of dead men's bones. It may
sometimes concern a man to seem religious ; God's
glory may be shewed by fair appearances, or the
edification of our brother, or the reputation of a
cause ; but this Is but sometimes : but it always con-
cerns us, that we be religious ; and we may reasonably
think, that if the colours of religion so well do ad-
vantage to us, the substance and reality would do It
much more. For no nvdx\ can have a good by seem-
ing religious, and another by not being so ; the power
of godliness never destroys any well-built fabrick
that was raised upon the reputation of religion and
its pretences. JVunquam est peccare utile^ quia sem-
per est turpe^ said Cicero : It is never profitable to sin,
because It is always base and dishonest. And if the
face of religion could do a good turn, which the heart
and substance does destroy, then religion Itself were
the greatest hypocrite In the world, and promises a

* Without, all virtue, and within all crime. A.

VOL. ir, 58

4b0 OF ciiuisTiAN siMPLiciTT. Semi. XXIIL

blcssino" which it never can perform, but must be be-
holden to its enemy to verify its promises. No: we
shall be sure to feel the blessings of both the worlds, if
Ave serve in the offices of relif':;ion devoutly and charita-
bly before men and before God: if we ask of God
things honest in the sight of men., iuiTct<pa,v«;rjx'i^wot, (as
P-/tha<roras gave in precept) praifing to God with a free
heart and a publick prayer, and doir)g before men
things that are truly pleasing to God, turning our
heart outward and our face inwards, that is, convers-
ing with men as in the presence of God ; and in our
private towards God, being as holy and devout as if
we prayed in publick, and in the corners of the streets.
Pliny piaising ./4m/o?«, gave him the title of an honest
and hearty religion : Ornat hunc ma<rniiudo animiquae
nihil ad ostentationem, omnia ad conscientiam refert ; reC'
teqne facti.) non ex populi sermone, mercedem, sed ex facto
petit. And this does well state the question of a sin-
cere religion, and an ingenuous goodness : it requires
that we do nothing for ostentation, but every thing
for conscience ; and we may be obliged in conscience
to publish our manner of lives, but then it must be,
not that we may have a popular noise for a reward, but
that God may be glorified by our publick worship-
pings, and others edified by our ofood examples.

Neither dot!» the sincerity of our religion require
that we should not conceal our sins; for he that sins
and dares to own them publickly, may become im-
pudent; and so long as in modesty we desire our
shame should be hid, and men to think better of us
than we deserve, I say, for no other reason but either
because we would not derive the ill examples to
others, or the shame to ourselves ; we are within the
protection of one of Virtue's sisters, and we are not
far from the gates of the kingdom of heaven ; easy
and apt to be invited in, and not very unworthy to
enter.

Serm. XXIII. of christian simplicity. -451

But if any other principle draws the veil, if we
conceal our vices because we would be honoured for
sanctity, or because we would not be hindered in our
desiojns, we serve the interest of pride and ambition,
covetousness, or vanity. If an innocent purpose hides
the ulcer, it docs half heal it; but if it retires into
the secrecy of sin and darkness, it turns into a plague
and infects the heart, and it dies infailibly of a dou-
ble exulceration. The jVacedontcm hoy that kept the
coal in his flesh, and would not shake his arm, lest
he should disturb the sacrifice, or discompose the
ministery before ^ilexonder the Great, concealed his
pain to the honour of patience and religion : but the
Spartan boy, who sutfered the little fox to eat his
bowels rather than confess his theft, when he was in
dans^er of discovery, paid the price of a bold hypo-
crisy, that is, the dissimulation reproveable in matter
of manners, which conceals- one sin to make way for

anotlier. Oi kai /u^Aol a-t/nvji k^i tncvSpu^Tot Ttt (iu Kit Td efii^cs-zat i^a/vcwsv:/, f<
vmJoi w^xti-j iiyvvitiK^; haSmlat, oa-dt. TToiovtriv ; LiVCiail DOtCS it OI IllS

philosophical hypocrites, dissemblers in matter of de-
portment and religion; they seem severe abroad^ but
they enter into the vaults of harlots, and are not
ashamed to see a naked sin in the midst of its ugli-
ness and undressed circumstances. A mighty wrest-
ler, that had won a crown at Olympus for contending
prosperously, was observed to turn his head and go
Forward with his face upon his shoulder, to behold a
fair woman that was present; and he lost the glory
of his strength, when he became so weak that a wo-
man could turn his head about, which his adveisary
could not. These are the follies and weaknesses of
man, and dishonours to religion, when a man shall con-
tend nobly, and do handsomely; and then be taken
In a base or a dishonourable action, and mingle ve-
nom with his delicious ointment.

4j2{ of christian bimplicity. Scrm. XXIIL

Quid ? quod olct gravius mistum diapasinate virus,
Alque duplex auiuiae lougius exit odor.

When Fescenia perfumed her breath that she might
not smell of wine, she condemned the crime of drunk-
enness ; but frrew ridiculous when the wine broke
through the cloud of a tender perfume, and the breath
of a lozenge. And that indeed is the reward of an
hypocrite ; his laborious arts of concealment furnish
all the world with declamation and severity against the
crime, which himself condems with his caution. But
when his own sentence too is prepared against the
day of his discovery,

Notas ergo niniis fraudes deprrnsaque furta
Jain tollas, et sis cbria siiupiiciter.

A simple drunkard hath but one fault: but they
that avoid discovery, that they may drink on without
shame or restraint, add hypocrisy to their vicious
fulness; and for all the amazements of their conse-
quent discovery have no other recompense, but that
they pleased themselves in the security of their
crime, and their undeserved reputation.

Sic quae nigrior est eadente inoro,
Cerussata sibi placet Lycoris :

For so the most easy and deformed woman, whose
girdle no foolish young man will unloose, because
she is blacker than the fallen mulberry, may please
herself under a skin of Cerusse, and call herself
fairer than Pharaoii's daughter, or the hintls hving
upon the snowy mountains.

One thing more there is to be added as an in-
stance to the simplicity >'f religion ; and that is. That
we never deny our religion, or lie concerning our
faith, nor tell our propositions and articles de-

Serm. XXIII. or christian siMPLrciTT. 453

ceitfiilly, nor Instruct novices or cnteclinmers v. Ifh
fraud ; but that when we teach them we do it ho-
nestly, justly and severely, not always to speak all,
but never to speak otherwise than it is, nor to hide
a truth from tliein, whose souls are concerned In it
that it be kr)ovvn. A'eque enim id est celure^ cvm gvid
reticeas ; sed cum^ quod tu scias., id ionorare emolu'
mcnti tui causa vclis cos quorum interest id scire :* So
Cicero deteiniines the case of prudence and sim-
plicity. The discovery of pious frauds ; and the
disclaiming of false, but proiitable and rich p>ropo-
sitions : the quitting honours fraudently gotten, arid
unjustly detained ; the reducing every man to the
perfect understanding of his own religion, so far as
can concern his duty; the disallowing false miiacles,
legends, and fabulous stories, to cozen the people
into awfulness, fear and superstition ; these are paits
of Christian simplicity which do integrate this duty.
For religion hath stiengths enough of its own to sup-
port itself; it needs not a devil for its advocate: it is
the breath of God ; and as it is purer than the beams
of the morning, so it is stronger than a tempest, or
the combinations of all the winds, though united by
the prince that ruleth in the air. And we find that tlie
JVicene faith prevailed upon all the world, though
some Arian bishops weniivomJirimimim to AVer, and
there decreed their own articles, and called it The
faith read at JS'ice., and used all arts, and all violence,
and all lying, and diligence to discountenance it ; yet
it could not be, it was the truth of God, and there-
fore it was stronger than all the gates of hell, than
all the powers of darkness. And he that tells a lie
for his religion, or goes about by fraud and impos-
ture to gain proselytes, either daies not trust his
cause, or dares not trust God. True religion Is
open in its articles, honest in its prosecutions, just in

* Ciceio, lib. iii. OflSc-

454 OP CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Sevm. XXIIL

its conduct, innocent when it is accused, ignorant of
falsehood, sure in its truth, simple in its sayings ; and
(as Julius CapitoHnus said of the emperour Venis^
it is morum simpUcium^ et quae adimibrare nihil possit :
It covers; indeed a multitude of sins by curing them,
and obtaiains^ pardon for them; but it can dissem-
ble nothing of itself; it cannot tell or do a lie : but
it can become a sacrifice; a good man can quit his
life, but never his integrity. That is the first duty ;
the sura of which is that which Jlquilius said concern-
ing fraud and craft; bonafides^ the honesty of a man's
faith and religion is destroyed cum idiud simidatum,
aliud actum sit^ when either we conceal what we
ought to publish, or do not act vvhat we pretend.

2. Christian simplicity or the innocence of pru-
dence, relates to laws both in their sanction and exe-
cution ; that they be decreed with equity, and pro-
portioned to the capacity and profit of tiie subjects,
and that they be applied to practice with remissions
and reasonable interpretations, agreeable to the
sense of the words and the mind of the lawgiver.
But laws are not to be cozened and abused by con-
tradictory glosses, and fantastick elusions; as know-
iniX that if the majesty and sacredness of them be
once abased, and Fubjected to contempt, and unrea-
sonable and easy resolutions, their girdle is unloosed,
and they suffer the shame of prostitution and contempt.
When Sard made a law, that he that did eat before
night should die, the people persuaded him directly
to rescind it in the case o(' Jonathan ; because it was
unequal and unjust, that he who had wrought their
deliverance, and in that working it, was absent from
the promulgation of the law, should suffer for break-
ing it, in a case of violent necessity, and of which he
heard nothing, upon so fair and probable a cause.
And it had been well that the Persian had been
so rescued, who, against the laws of his country.

(Serwi. XXIIl. OF christian simplicitt. 455

killed a lion to save the life of his prince. In such
cases it is fit the law be rescinded and dispensed
withal, as to certain particulars; so it be done inii;e-
nuously, with competent authority, in great neces-
sity, and without partiality. But that which I intend
here is, that in the rescission or dispensation of the
law, the process be open and free, and such as shall
preserve the law and its sacredness, as well as the
person and his interest. The laws of Sparta foi bad
any man to be twice admiral; but when their atlairs
required it, they made Jlraeus titular, and Lysander
supravisor of him, and admiral to all real and effec-
tive purposes: this wanted ingenuity, and laid a way
open for them to despise the law which was made
patient of such a weak evasion. The Lacedcnioniaji
ambassadour persuaded Pericles to turn the tables of
the law, wdiich were forbidden to be removed; and
another ordained in a certain case, that the laws should
sleep twenty four hours : a third decreed that June
should be called Jlay^ because the time of an election
appointed by the law was elapsed. These arts are
against the ingenuity and simplicity of laws and law-
givers, and teach the people to cheat in their obe-
dience, when their judges are so fraudulent in the
administration of their laws. Every law should be
made plain, open, honest, and significant; and he
that makes a decree, and intricates it on purpose, or
by inconsideration lays a snare or leaves one there,
is either an imprudent person, and therefore unfit to
govern, or else he is a tyrant and a vulture. It is
too much that a man can make a law by an arbitra-
ry power. But when he shall also leave the law, so
that every of the ministers of justice and the judges
shall have power to rule by a loose, by an arbitrary,
by a contradictory interpretation, it is intolerable.
They that rule by prudence should above all things
see that the patrons and advocates of innocence
should be harmless, and without an evil sting.

456 OF cHRisTiAjr SIMPLICITY. Semi. XXIIL

3. Christian simplicity relates to promises and acts
of grace and favour; and its caution is, that all pro-
mises be simple, ingenuous, agreeable to the inten-
tion of the promiser, truly and effectuallj expressed,
and never going less in the performance than in the
promises and the words of tSie expression : concern-
ing which the cases are several. 1. First, all promis-
es in vviiich a third or a second person hath no
interest, that is, the promises of kindness and civili-
ties, are tied to pass into performance secundum
aeguum et boiium ; and though they may oblige to
some small inconvenience, yet never to a great one:
as, I will visit you to-morrow morning, because I
promised you, and tiierefore 1 will come, etiamsi non
concoxero^ although I have not slept my full sleep ;
but si febricitavero., if I be in a {eYe]\ or have reason
to fear one, I am disobliged. For the nature of such
promises bears upon them no bigger burthen than
can be expounded by reasonable civilities, and the
common expectation of kind, and the ordinary per-
formances of just men, who do excuse and are ex-
cused respectively by all rules of reason proportion-
ably to such small intercourses: and therefore al-
though such conditions be- not expressed in making
promises, yet to perform or rescind them by such
laws is not against Christian simplicity. 2. Promises
in matters of justice or in matters of grace, as from
a superiour to an Infeilour, must be so sirjgly and in-
genuously expressed, intended and performed accor-
dingly, that no condition is to be reserved or suppo-
sed in them to warrant their non-performance but
impossibility, or, that which is next to it, an intolera-
ble inconvenience; in which cases we have a natural
liberty to commute our promises, but so that we
pay to tiie interested person a good at least equal
to that which we hrst promised. And to this pur-
pose it may be added, that it is not against Christian

iS'erm. XXtlt. of christian simplicitYo 43?

simplicity to express our promises in such words
which we know the interested man will understand
to other purposes than I intend, so it be not less, that
I mean, than that he hopes for. When our blessed
Saviour told his disciples, that they should sit vpon
twelve thrones^ they presently thought they had his
bond for a kingdom, and dreamed of wealth and
honour, power and a splendid court; and Chrisf;
knew they did, but did not disentangle his promise
from the enfolded and intiicate sense, ot which his
words were naturally capable ; but he performed
his promise to better purposes than they hoped for;
they were presidents in the conduct of souls, princes
of God's people, the chief in sufferings, stood near-
est to the cross, had an elder bi other's portion in the
kingdom of grace, were the founders of churchesj.
and dispensers of the mysteries of the kingdom, and
ministers of the spirit of God, and channels of mighty
blessings, under-mediators in the piiesthood of their
Lord, and their names were written in heaven : and
this was infinitely better, than to groan and wake un-
der a head pressed with a golden crown and pun-
gent cares, and to eat alone, and to walk in a crowd,
and to be vexed with all the publick and many of the
private evils of the people, which is the sum total
of an earthly kingdom.

When God promised to the obedient, that they
should live long in the land which he would give
them, he meant it of the land of Canaan^ but yet
reserved to himself the liberty of taking them quick-
ly from that land, and carrying them to a better.
He that promises to lend me a staflf" to walk withal,
and instead of that gives me a horse to carry me,
hath not broken his promise, nor dealt deceitfully.
And this is God's dealing with mankind; he pro-
mises more than we could hope for; and when he hath
done that, hegives us more than he hath promised. God

VOL. IL 59

458 Of CHRISTIAN siMPLiciTr. Semi. XXI 11.

liath promised to give lo them that fear him all that
thejneed, food and raiment: but he adds, out of the
treasures of his mercy, variety of food, and changes of
raiment; some to get strength, and some to refresh;
something for them that are in heaith, and some for
the sick. And though that skins of bulls, and stags,
and foxes, and bears, could have drawn a veil thick
enough to hide the apertures of sin and natural
shame, and to defend us from heat and cold, yet
wlien he added the iieeces of the sheep and beavers,
and the spoils of silk- worms, he hath proclaimed, that
although his promises are ti)e bounds cf oui certain
expectation, yet they are not the limits of his loving
kindness : and if he does more than be hath pro-
mised, no man can complain that he did otherwise,
and did greater things than he said. Tfius God does ;
but therefore so also must we, imitating that ex-
ample, and transcribing that copy of divine truth,
always remembering that his promises are yea and
amen. And although God often does more, yet he
never does less; and therefore we must nevei- go
from our promises, unless we be thrust from thence
by disability, or let go by leave, or called up higher
by a greater intendment and increase of kindness.
And therefore when Solyman had sworn to Ibrahim
Bassa that he would never kill him so long as he
were alive, he quitted himself but ill, when he sent an
eunuch to cut his throat when he slept, because the
priest told him that sleep was death. His act was
false and deceitful as his great prophet.

But in this part of simplicity, we Christians have a
most especial obligation : for our religion being en-
nobled by the most and the greatest promises, and
our faith made confident by the veracity of our Lord,
and his word made certain by miracles and prophe-
cies, and voices Irom heaven, and all the testimony
of God himself; and that truth itself is bound upon

Serm. XXIII. of christian simplicity. 459

us by the efficacy of great endearments and so many
precepts ; il" we shall suffer the faith of a Cliristian
to be an instrument to deceive our brother, and that
he must either be incredulous or deceived, unchari-
table or deluded like a fool, we dishonour the sacied-
ness of the institution, and become stranijers to the
spirit of truth, and to the eternal word of God. Our
blessed Lord would not have his disciples to swear at
all^ (no not in puhlick judicature) if the necessities of
the world would permit him to be obeyed. If Chris-
tians will live accordiiig to the religion, the word of
a Christian were a sufficient instrument to give testi-
mony, and to make piomises, to secure a faith ; and,
upon that supposition, oaths were useless and there-
fore forbidden, because there could be no necessity
to invoke God's name in piomises or affii niations if
men were indeed Chiistians, and theiefo'^'' in that
case would be a taking it in vain: but beca'u&t many
are not, and they that aie in name, ajtentimeK are
in nothing else, it became necessary that man shoiLid
swear in judgment and in publick couits. But con-
sider who it was that invented and made the necessity
of oaths, of bonds, of securities, of statutes, extents,
judgments, and all the aititices of human diffidence
and dishonesty. These things were indeed found
out by men ; but the necessity of these was from
him that ts the father of lies^ (vom him that iiath made
many iair promises, but never kept any ; or if he did,
it was to do a bigger mischief, to cozen the more.
For so does the devil : he promises rich harvest, and
blasts the corn in the spring ; he tells his servants they
shall be rich, and fills them with beggarly qualities,
makes them base and indigent, greedy and penurious ;
and they that serve him entirely, as witches and such
miserable persons, never can be rich : if he promises
health, then men grow confident and intemperate,
and do such things whereby they shall die the sooner,

4t)0 OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITT. SertYl, XXIV^

and die longer; they shall die eternally. He de-
ceives men in their trust, and frustrates their hopes,
and eludes their expectations; and his promises have
a period set, beyond which they cannot be true ; for
Avicked men shall enjoy a fair fortune but till their
appointed time, and then it ends in perfect and in
most accomplished misery ; and therefure even in
this performance he deceives them most of all, pro-
mising jewels, and performing coloured stones and
glass gems, that he may cozen them of their glorious
inheritance. All fraudulent breakers of promises
dress themselves by his glass, whose best iamgery is
deformity and lies.

SERMON XXIV.

it'

PART II.

4. Christian simplicity teaches openness and in-
o'enuity in contracts, and matters of buying and sell-
sno-, covenants, associations, and all such intercourses
which suppose an *^quality of persons as to the mat-
ter of rit>"ht and justice in the stipulation, mst* TJivaT.o-
pAv <i-^iuSiiv was the old Jlttick law : and nothing is more
contrary to Christian religion, than that the inter-
courses of justice be di«ect snares, and that we should
deal with men, as men deal with foxes and wolves,
and vermin; do all violence, and when that cannot
be, use all craft and esery thing whereby they can
be made miserable.

There are men in the world who love to smile,
i?ut that smile is more dangerous than the furrows of

* By secret treachery oi;' open force. A.

Serm. XXIV* of christian simplicity. 461

a contracted brow, or a storm in Jldria ; for their
purpose is only to deceive : they easily speak what
they never mean ; they heap up many arguments to
persuade that to others, which themselves believe
not ; they praise that vehemently which they deride
in their hearts; they declaim against a thing which
themselves covet : they beg passionately for that
which they value not, and run from an object which
they would fain have to follow and overtake them;
they excuse a person dexterously where the man is
beloved, and watch to surprise him where he is un-
guarded ; they praise that they may sell, and dis-
grace that they may keep. And these hypocrisies
are so interwoven and embroidered with their whole
design, that some nations refuse to contract till their
arts are taken off by the society of banipjets, and
the good-natured kindnesses of festival chalices: for so
jr«c«7//A' observes concerning the old Germans ; De as-
ciscendis principibus, de pace et bello, in conviviis consul-
tant^ tanquam nullo jnagis tempore ad simplices cogi-
tationes paieat animvs^ ant ad niagnas incalescai : as if
then they were more simple, when they were most
valiant, and were least deceitful when they were least
themselves.

But it is an evil condition that a man's honesty
shall be owing to his wine, and virtue must live at the
charge and will of a vice. The proper band of
societies and contracts is justice and necessities., reli-
gion and the laivs ; the measures of it are equity^ and
oursclvesy and our oicn desires in the days of our need,
natural or forced : but the instruments of the exchange
and conveyance of the whole intercourses is icords
and actions., as they are expounded by custom, con-
sent, or understanding of the interested person;
in which if simplicity be not severely pieserved, it
is impossible that human society can subsist, but men
shall be forced to snatch at what they have bought.

462 OP CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Seriu. XXIV.

and take securities that men swear truly, and exact
an oath that such is the meaning of the word ; and
no man shall think himself secure, but shall fear he
is robbed, if he has not possession first; and it shall
be disputed who shall trust the other, and neither of
them shall have cause to be confident upon bands,
or oaths, or witnesses, or promises, or all the
honour of men, or all the engagements of religion.

Tov f^thia-TA <pthid:.7rpoT:,Koviit* Said CyTus lu }ienophon : a man^
thou<rh he desires it, cannot be confident of the man
that pretends truth, yet tells a lie. and is deprehen-
ded to have made use of the sacred name o( friendship
or religion, honesty or reputation, to deceive his
brother.

But because a man may be deceived by deeds and
open actions as well as words ; therefore it concerns
their duty, that do man by an action on purpose done
to make his brother believe a he, abuse his persua-
sion and his interest. When Pythins ihe Sicilian had
a mind to sell his garden to Cannius, he invited him
thither, and caused fisjiermen (as if by custom) to
fish in the channel by which the garden stood, and
they threw great store of fish into their arbours, and
made Cannius believe it was so every day; and the
man grew greedy of that place of pleasure, and gave
Pythins a double price, and the next day perceived
himself abused. Actions of pretence and simulation
are like snares laid, into which the beasts fall though
you pursue them not, but walk in the inquiry for
their necessary provisions : and if a man fall into a
snare that you have laid, it is no excuse to say, you
did not tempt him thither. To lay a snare is against
the ingenuity of a good man and a Christian, and
from thence he ought to be drawn ; and therefore it
is not fit we should place a danger which ourselves
are therefore bound to hindei-, because from thence

* Lib. 8. lastit.

Serm. XXIV. of christian simplicitt. 463

we are obliged to rescue lilm. Vir bonus est ^ qui pro"
dest quibus potest^ nocet nemi/n : wheu we do all lue
good we can, and do an evil to no man, then onlj we
are accounted j^ood men. But this {)rctence of an
action signifvini^ otherwise tlian it looks for, is only
foibidden in matter of contract, and the material in-
terest of a second person. But when actions are of
a double sii>;nilication, or when a man is not abused or
defeated ol his ri^iht by an unceitain sign, it is lawful
to do a thing to other purposes than is commonly un-
derstood. Flight is a sign of fear; but it is lawful
to tly when a man fears not. Circumcision was the
seal of the Jewish religion ; and yet St. Paul circum-
cised Timothi/^ though he intended he should live
like the Gentile Chiistians, and not as do the Jews.
But because that rite did signify more things besides
that one ; he only did it to represent that he was no
enemy of Moses'' law, but would use it when there
was just reason, which was one part of the things
which the using of circumcision could signify. So
our blessed Saviour pretended that he would pass
forth beyond Emmaus ; but if he intended not to do
it, yet he did no injury to the two disciples, (or whose
good it was that he intended to make this olfer : and
neither did he prevaricate the strictness of simplici-
ty and sincerity, because they were persons with
whom he had made no contracts, to whom he had
passed no obhgation: and in the nature of the thing,
it IS proper and natural^ by an otfer to give an occa-
sion to another to do a good action ; and in case it
succeeds not, then to do what we intended not ; and
so tiie oifer was conditional. But in all cases of bar-
gaining, although the actions of themselves may
receive naturally another sense, yet I am bound to
follow that signification which may not abuse my
brother, or pollute my own honesty, or snatch or
rifle his interest: because it can be no ingredient

4B4 OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Sei'm. XXlVi

into the commutation, if I exchange a thing which
he understands not, and is by errour led into this
mistake, and I hold forth the fire, and delude him^
and amuse his eje ; for by me he is made worse.

But secondly, as our actions must be of a sincere
and determinate signification in contiact, so must
our tvords : in which the rule of the old Roman
honesty was this : Uterque, si ad eloquendum venerit^
non plus quam semel eloquelur ; every one that speaks,
is to speak but once^ that is, but one things because
commonly that is truth; truth being but one, but
errour and falsehood infinitely various and change-
able : and we shall seldom see a man so stiffened
with impiety as to speak little and seldom, and per-
tinaciously adhere to a single sense, and yet that at
first, and all the way after, shall be a lie. Men use
to go about when they tell a lie, and devise circum-
stances, and stand off at a distance, and cast a cloud
of words, and intricate the Avhole affair, and cozen
themselves first, and then cozen their brother; while
they have minced the case of conscience into little
particles, and swallowed the lie by crums, so that
no one passage of it should rush against the con-
science, nor do hurt, until it is all got into the belly,
and unites in the effect; for, by that time, two men
are abused — the merchant in his soul, and the con-
tractor in his interest : and this is the certain effect
of much talking and little honesty. But he that
means honestly, must speak but once, that is, one
truth; and hath leave to vary within the degrees of
just prices and fair conditions, which, because they
have a latitude, may be enlarged or restrained,
according as the merchant pleases : save only, he
must never prevaricate the measures of equity, and
the proportions of reputation, and the publick. But,
in all the parts of this trafiick, let our words be the
signification of our thoughts, and our thoughts de-

tSenn. XXIV. of christian simplIcitt* 465

sign nothing bnt the advantages of a permitted
exchange. In this case, the severity is so great, so
exact, and so without variety of case, that it is not
Jawlul for a man to tell a truths with a collateral de-
sign to cozen and abuse ; and therefore, at no hand
can it be permitted to lie or equivocate, (o speak
craftily, or to deceive, by smoothness, or intricacy,
or long discourses.

But this precept of simplicity in matter of con-
tract, hath one step of severity beyond this : in
matter of contract, it is not lawful so much as to
conceal the secret and undisceniihle faults of the
merchandize; but we must acknowledge them, or
else adiv prices made, dirninute and lessened to such
proportions and abatements as that fault should
make. Caveat emptor is a good caution for him that
buys, and it secures the seller in publick judicature,
but not in court of conscience : and the old laws
of the Romans were as nice in this affair as the con-
science of a Christian. Titus Claudius Ceritimcdus
"was commanded by the Augurs to pull down his
house in the Ccelian mountain^ because it hindeied
their observation of the tlight of birds : ho exposes
his house to sale ; Publius Calphurnius buys it, and
is forced to pluck it down ; but complaining to tho
judges, he had remedy, because Claudius did not
tell him the true state of the inconvenience, llo
that sells a house infected with the plague, or
haunted with evil spirits, sells that which is not
worth such a price which it might be put at, if it
were in health and peace ; and therefore casmot
demand it, but openly, and u[)on publicat;on of th(i
evil. To which also this is to be added, that, in
some great faults, and such as have danger, (as in
the cases now specilied) no diminution of the price
is sufficient to make the merchant just and sincere,
unless he tells the appendant mischief; because, t©

VOL. ir. 60

46t> OF CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Semi. XXIV*

some persons In many cases, and to all persons in
some cases, it is not at all valuable; and they would
not possess it, if they mii^ht, for nothing. Marcus
Gratid/'anus bought a house of Sergius Orata^ which
himself had sold before; but because ^Ser^m- did not
declare the appendant vassalage and service, he was
recompensed by the judo;es. For although it was
certain that Gratidianus knew it, because it had
been his own, yet oportuitex bona fide dcnunciari, said
the law, it concerned the ingenuity of a good man
to have spoken it openly. In all cases it must be con-
fessed in the price, or in the words : but when the
evil may be personal, and more the matter of inter-
est and money, it ought to be confessed, and then
the goods prescribed; lest by my act I do my
neighbour injury, and 1 receive profit by his damage.
Certain it is, that ingenuity is the sweetest and easi-
est way; there is no difficulty or case of conscience
in that; and it can have no objection in it, but that
possibly sometimes we lose a little advantage which
it may be we may lawfully acquire, but still we se-
cure a quiet conscience: and if the merchandize be
not worth so much to me, then neither is it to him ;
if it be to him, it is also to me; and therefore I have
no loss, no hurt to keep it, if it be refused. But he
that secures his own profit, and regards not the in-
terest of anotiier, is more greedy of a full purse than
of a holy conscience, and prefers gain before justice,
and the wealth of his private before the necessity of
pubhck society and commerce, being a son of earth,
whose centre is itself, without relation to heaven,
that moves ujjon another's point, and produces flow-
ers for others, and sends influence upon all the world,
and receives nothing in leturn but a cloud of per-
fume, or the smell of" a fat sacrifice.

God ser)t justice into the world, that all conditions
in their several proportions should be equal ; and he

Serm. XXIV. of christian simplicity-. 467

that receives a good should pay one ; and he whom

I serve is obhjred to feed and to defend me, in the

1 • • • I

same proportions as I serve ; and justice is a rela-
tive term, and supposes two persons obliged : and
though fortunes arc unequal, and estates are in ma-
jority and subordination, and men are wise or fool-
ish, honoured or despised ; yet in the intercourses of
justice God hath made that there is no ditference.
And therefore it was esteemed ignoble to dismiss a
servant when corn was dear; in dangers of ship-
wreck to throw out an unprofitable boy, and keep
a fair horse ; or for a ivise man, to snatch a plank
from a drowning fool; or if the master oi the ship
should challenge the board upon vvliich his passen-
ger swims for his life; or to obtrude false money
upon others, which we hrst took for true, but at last
discovered to be false; or not to discover the gold
which the merchant sold for Alchymy. The reason ot
all these is, because the collateral advantages are
not at all to be considered in matter of rights : and
though I am dearest to myself, as my neighbour is
to himself; yet it is necessary that I permit him to
his own advantages, as I desire to be permitted to
mine. Now therefore simplicity and ingenuity in all
contracts is perfectly and exactly necessary, because
its contrary destroys that equality which justice
hath placed in the allHirs of men, and makes all
things private, and makes a man dearer to himself,
and to be preferred before kings and republicks,
and churches; it destroys society, and it makes
multitudes of men to be but like herds of beasts,
without proper instruments of exchange and sCv urities
of possession, without faith and without propriety;
concerning all wiiich there is no other account to be
given, but that the rewards of craft are but a little
money, and a great deal of dishonour, and much
suspicion, and proportionable scorn; watches and

468 OP cHRif5TiAN giMPLiciTT. Semi. XXIT.

guards, sjiles and jealousies are his portion. But
the crown of justice is a fair life, and a clear reputa^
tion, and an inheritance there where justice dwells
since slic left the earth, even in the kingdom of the
just, wlio shall call us to judgment for eveiy ivord, and
render to every man accordini( to Lis works. And what
is the hope ot the hjj)ociite, though he hath gained,
■when the Lord taketh away his soul? ToUendum esse
ex rebus contrahendi^ omne 7n endacii'?n ;* that \s the
sum of this rule: no falsehood or deceit is to be en-
dured in any contract.

5. Christian simplicity hath also its necessity, and
passes obligation upon us towards enemies in ques-
tions of law or war. Plutarch commends Lysander
and Philopmmen for their craft and subtilily in war;
but commends it not as an ornament to their man-
ners, but that which had influence into prosperous
events : just as J^mmiamus afliims, rmllo discriraine virr
iutis ac doll., prosperos omnes laudari debere bellorum
tventus ; whatsoever in war is prosperous, men use
to commend. But he that is a good soldier is not
always a good man. Callicratidas was a good man,
and followed the old way of downright hostility,

UTrXdw x«< yindtm ra>y tiyt/jt-ovctv Tgo^rov.f JjUt L^ysanuer WaS

jrarot/gj/oc, x.~tt e-o<^i<TT»r, etTTATcu; Sit isrotKiKny TO. Toti TTOKifMu, CI CTUfty

man^ full of plots, but not noble in the conduct of his
arms. I remember Euripides brings in Achilles com-
mending the ingenuity of his breeding, and the sim"
plicity and nobleness of his own heart:

XtJgavof tixa^ov ttou; tpottcv; aTTKM; iy^iv.t

* Cicero. f In Lysand,

I Iphrg. in. Aiil.
Tntor'd hy Chiron, vrncrablc sa2;e
I learot Ibe simple language of the heart. A .

B^rm. XXIV. OF christian siMPLicirr. 46S*

The good old man Chiron was my tntor^ and he tavght
me to use simplicity and lioncst)^^ in all my manuers.
It was well and noble. Bnt jcl some wise men do
not condemn all soldiers that use to get victories
by deceit : St. ,/juslin allows it to be lawlul : arjd St.
Chrysostom commends it.* These good men sup-
posed that a erarty victory was betler than a bloody
Avar: and certainly so it is, if the power gotten by
craft be not exercised in blood. But this business
(as to the case ol conscience) will quickly be deter-
mined. Enemies are not persons bound by contract
and society, and therefore are not obliged to open
hostilities and ingenuous prosecutions of the ^^ ar ; and
if it be lawful to take by violence, it is not unjust to
take the same thing by craft. But this is so to be
understood, that, where there is an obligation, either
by the law of nations or by special contracts, no man
dare to violate his faith or honour, but in these things
deal with an ingenuity equal to the truth of peaceful
promises, and acts of favour, and endearment to our
relatives. Josephus'f tells of the sons of Herod., that
in their enmities with their uncle Pherora and Sa-
lome., they had disagreeing manners of prosecution, as
they had disagreeing hearts : some railed openly,
and thought their enmity the more honest because
it was not concealed ; but by the ignorance and rude
untutored malice, lay open to the close designs of
the elder brood of ibxes. In this, because it was a
particular and private quarrel, there is no rule of con-
science, but that it be wholly laid aside, and appeas-
ed with charity : for the openness of the quairel w as
but the raofe and indiscretion of the malice; and the
close design was but the craft and advantage of the
malice. But in just wars, on that side where a com

* Quae. 10. super Joshuam lib. i. de Sacerdolio.
t //jsf. I. IC. c. 6.

470 OF CHRISTIAN siMPLiciTF. Semi. XXIV,

petent authority, and a just cause warrants the arms,
and turns the active opposition Into the excuse and
license of defence, diere is no restraint upon the ac-
tions and words of men in the matter of sincerity,
but that the laws of nations be strictly pursued, and
all parties, promises, and contracts observed reh-
gionsly, and by the proportion of a private and
Christian ingenuity. We find it, by wise and good
men, mentioned with honour, that the Romans threw
bread from the besieged capitol into the stations of
the Gaul'j\ that they might think them full of corn:
and that j^gesilaus discouraged the enemies, by caus-
iiMT his own men to wear crowns in token of a naval
victory gotten by Pisander, who yet was at that time
desl! oved by Conon : and that Flaccus said the city
was taken by .AerniliuH, and that Joshua dissembled
a {light at Mi^ and the consul Quindius told aloud
tJiat the left wing of the enemies was tied, and that
^lade the right wing fly : and that Valerius Levinus
bragged prudently that he had killed Pyrrhus ; and
tliut others use the ensigns of enemies' colours and
garments. Concerning which sort of actions and
words, j]gesilans in Plutarch sd\(\^ ou f^mv to Jimiov, ^km mi

p'o^x m\K)i, Kiti TO /'xjQ' tiSavK Ki^S'xintv ivifrt. It IS JUSt atUl pleOSCtntj

profitable and glorious. But to call a parley, and
fall in upon the men that tieat ; to swear a peace,
and watch advantage; to entertain heralds, and then
to torment thetn, to get from them notices of their
party ; these are such actions which are disho-
nourable and unjust, condemned by the laws of na-
tions, and essential justice, and by all the world:
and the Hungarian army was destroyed by a di-
vine judgment, at the piayer and appeal of the
JMahometan enemy, for their violating their faith
and honour, and prophanlng the name of Christ, by

usinc: it in a solemn oath lo deceive their encnics:

....

<t» fAiv v7rn7cL^mt u<fiKtiv, Tuv S-Kt7 fj-T/xXTft^gorfV tlllS IS to dcSplSt

Serm. XXlV, of citristian suvtplicity. 471

God. \vlu;n men iirst swear by him, and then violate
their oalhs or leagues^ their treaties or promises. In
other cases hberty hath been taken by all men, and
it is reproved by no man, since the first simjjlKity
of 'ighting and downright blows did cease by the
better instructed people of the world ; wliich was,
as is usually computed, about the end of the second
CatihainniuiiwdLV : since that time, some few persons
have been found so noble as to scorn to steal a vic-
tory, but had rather have the glory of a sharp sword
than of a sharp wit.

But their ligliting gallantry is extrinsical to the
question of lawful or unlawful.

6. Thus we see how far the laws of ingenuity and
Christian simplicity have put fetters upon our woids
and actions, and directed them in the paths of truth
and nobleness ; and the first degrees of permission of
simulation are in the arts of war, and the cases of just
hostility. But here it is usually inquired, whether it
be lawful to tell a lie or dissemble, to save a good
man's life, or to do him a great benefit. A question
which St. Austin was much troubled withal, affirming'
it to be of the greatest difficulty : for he saw gene-
rally all the doctors befoie his time alloued it; and
of all the fathers, no man is notfid to have reproved
it but St. Auslin alone, and he also (as his mantjer
is) with some variety: those winch i'oilowed him,
are to be accounted upon his score. And it relies
upon such precedents which are not lightly to be
disallowed. For so Abrakam and Isaac told a lie in
the case of their own danger to Abimclech ; so did
the hraeliiisk mid wives to Pharaoh; and Rahab
concerning the spies, and Pavid to the king o( Gath,
and tlie prophets that anointed Said, and Elisha to
Hazacl, and Solomon in the sentence of the stolen
child, concerning which Ircmeus hath given us a
rule, That those whose actions the scripture hath re-

4?^ OP CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. Sevm. XXIYt

marked ; and yet not chastised or censured, we are
not without great reason and certain lule to con-
demn. But whether his rule can extend to this case
is now to be inquired.

1. It is certain that children may be cozened into
goodness, and sick men to health, and passengers in
a storm into safety ; and the reason of triese is, be-
cause not only the end is fair, and charitable, and
just, but the means are such which do no injury to
tha persons which are to receive benefit; because
these are persons who are either naturally or acci-
dentally ignorant, and incompetent judges of affairs:
and if they be also wilful, as such persons most
commonly are, there is in art and nature left no
"way to deal with them, but with innocent, chaiita-
l)le, and artificial deceptions; they are not capable
of reason and solid discourses, and therefore either
must be exposed to all harms, like lions' Avhelps
when their nurse and sire are taken in a toll, or else
be provided for in ways proportionable to their ca-
pacity.

2. Sinners may not be treated with the liberty we
take to children and sick persons, because they must
serve GoJ with choice and election ; and therefore
although a sick man may be cozened into his health,
yet a man must not be cozened into his duty, which
is no duty at all, or pleasing to God, unless it be vo-
luntary and chosen : and therefore they are to be
treated with arguments proper to move their wills,
by the instrument of understanding specially, being
persons of perfect faculties, and apt to be moved by
the wavs of health and of a man. It is an aro;ument
of infirmity, that in some cases it is necessary to
make pretences; but those pretences are not made
legitimate, unless it be by the infirmity of the inte-
rested man with whom we do comply. My infirmi-
ty cannot make it lawful to make colours and images

Xerm. XXIV. of cHRisTiAif simpltcttt. 473

ofthin^^s: but the irifirnvty of him with whom Ideal
may be such, that he caci be defended or instructed
no other way. But siimers that offend God by choice
m.jst have their clioice corrected, and their under-
standings insti'ucted, or else their evil is not cured,
nor their state amended.

3. For it is here very observable, that In Inter-
courses of this nature we are to regard a double
duty : the matter of justice, and the rights of charity ;
that is, that good be done by lawlul instruments:
for it is certain it is not lawful to abuse a man's un-
derstanding, with a j)uipose to gain him sixpence;
it is not lit to do evil for a good end : or to abuse
one man, to preserve or do advantage to another.
And therefore it is not suilicient that 1 intend to do
g)od to my neighbour: {or \ may not tiierefore tell
a lie, and abuse his credulity, because his under-
standing hath a ri ,dit as certain as his will hath or
as his money ; and his right to tiuth is no more to b©
cozened ajid defrauded than his right unlo his money.
And therefore such artificial intercourses aie no
ways to be permitted, but to such pei-sons over
whose understandings vVe have power and authority.
Plato said it was lawful for kinas and iroveinours to
dissemble, because there is great necessity for them
so to do : but it was but crudely said, so nakedly to
deliver the doctrine: for in such things which the
people cannot understaisd, and yet ought to obey,
there is a liberty to use tliem as we use children,
who are of no other condition or capacities ihaa
children ; but in all things where they can and
ought to choose, because their understanding Is only
a servant to God, no man hath power to abuse their
credulity and reason, to preserve tlieir estates and
peace. But because children, and mad people, and
diseased are such whose understandings are in mi-
nority and under tuition, they are to be governed by

VOL. II. 61

>ir4 OF CHRISTIAN siMPLiciTT. Scrm. XXIV.

their proper instruments and proportions : To>*g «>a9ov
KgiiTiov ivri Txt umQuh;, said Froclus ; Ji good turn is to ba
preferred before a true saying : it is only true to such
persons who cannot value truth, and prefer an intel-
lectual before a material interest. It is better for
children to have w^arm clothes than a true proposi-
tion, and therefore in all senses they and their like
may be so treated : but other persons, who have
distinct capacities, have an injury done them by be-
ing abused into advantages ; and although those ad-
vantages make them recompense, yet he that is tied
to make a man recompense hath done hin) injury and
committed a sin, by which he Avas obliged to resti-
tution : and therefore the man ought not to be cozen-
ed for his own good.

4. And now upon the grounds of this discourse,
we may more easily determine concerning saving the
life of a man by telling a lie in judgment. aj« ^s ^ufATrf^.Tiuf
TOK <ptMt^, ctxKu. fxi^i' ^«av, said Pericles oi J^thens^ when his
friend desired him to swear on his side; I will assist
my friend^ so far as I may not dishonour God. And
to lie in judgment is directly against the being of
govenmient, the honour of tribunals, and the com-
mandment of God ; and therefore by no accident can
be hallowed ; it is x*S' mto <bu.vK.v k-xi 4s«7.v, as Jlristotle said
of a lie, it is a thing evil in itself ; that is, it is evil in
the whole kind, ever since it came to be foibidden
by God. And therefore a!! those instances of crafty
and delusive answers, which are recorded in Scrip-
ture, were extrajudicial, and had not this load upon
them, to be deceiving of authority in those things
where they had right to command or inquire, and
either were before or besides the commandment, not
at all against it. And since the law of Moses forbad
lying in judgment^ ou\y by that law we are to judge of
those actions in the Old Testament which were com-
mitted after its publication : and because in the sermons

Serm. XXIV. of christian siMPLicixr. 475

ofthe prophets, and especially In the New Testament,
Christ hath superadded or enlarged the law of inge-
nuity and hearty simplicity^ we are to leave the old
Scripture precedents upon the ground of their own
permissions, and fuiish our duty by the rules of our
religion ; which hatii so restrained our words, that
they must always be just, and always charitable;
and there is no leave given to prevaricate, but to such
persons where there can be no obligation, persons
that have no right, such with whom no contract can
be made, such as children, and fools, and infirm per-
sons, whose faculties are hindered or dej-waved. I
remember that Secimchis extremely commencis Jlrria
for deluding her husband's feai's concerning the death
of his beloved boy : she wiped her eyes, and came
in confidently, and sat by her husband's bed side ; and
when she Could no longer forbear to weep, her hus-
band's sickness was excuse enough to leoitimate that
sorrow, or else she could retire ; but so Ions; she
forbore to coiifess the boy's death, till Cecinna Pce-
ius had so far recovered, that he could go forth to
see the boy, and need not fear with sorrow to return
to his disease. It was Indeed a great kindness and
rare prudence, as their atl'alrs and laws were order-
ed; but we have better means to cure our sick: our
religion can charm the passion, and enable the spirit
to entertain and master a sorrow. And when we
have such rare supplies out of the store-houses of
reason and religion, we have less reason to use these
arts and little devices, which are arguments of an
infirmity as great as is the charity: and therefore we
are to keep ourselves stiictly to the foregoing mea-
sures. Let every man speak the truth to his neighbour^
putting awaij lyings for we are members one of another :*
and 6e as harmless as doves, saith our blessed Saviour

* Ephes. ir. 25.

476 OF CHRISTIAN SITVTPLICITT. SerjTt . XXIV*

in my text : wiiirh contain the Avltole (luty ronrern-
in£^ tlie m^tterof truth and sinceiity. In both which
places, truth and simphcity are founded upon justice
and (haiity: and therefore wherever a lie is in any
gensea.':^ainst justice, and wrong's any man of a thing,
his judii'ment and his reason, his rio^ht, orhis liberty,
it is expressly forbidden in the Ciiristian relijjjion.
What cases we can tiulv suppose to be besides these,
the law foibids not, and therefore it is lawful to say
that to myself which I believe not, for what innocent
purpose 1 [)lease, and to all those over whose under-
standin*^ I have, or on^ht to have light.

These cases are intricate enou^Ii, arid therefore I
shall return plainly to press the doctrine of sioipli"'
city, which oup^ht to be so sacred, that a man ought
to do notliing indirectly which is not lawful to own :
to receive no advantac;e by the sin of another, which
I should account dishonest if the action were my
own; for whatsoever disputes may be concerning
the lawfulness of pretending craftily in some rare
and contingent cases, yet it is on all hands condemn-^
ed, that my craft siiould do injury to my brother. I
remember that when somegiecdy and indigent peo-
ple foi'ged a wiii of Lv.cius Minutius Basilhis. and
joined AI. Crassus^ and Q. Hortcnsius in the inherit
tance, tliat their power for their own interest might
secure the others' share ; they suspecting the thing
to be a forgei-y, yet being not principals and actors
in the contrivance, aUeni facinoris mvnuscvhim non re-
pudiaverunt^ refused not to receive a present made
them by another's crime; but so they entered upon a
moiety of the estate, and tlie biggest share of the
dishonour. We must not be crafty to another's mjury
so much as by giving countenance to tlie wrong;
for tortoises and tiie ostrich hatch their eggs with
their looks only; and some have designs which a
dissembling" face, or an acted gesture can produce ,

Berm. XXIV. of christian siMrLiciTT. 477

but as a man may commit adultery with his eye, so
with the eye also he may tell a lie, and steal uiilione
finger, and do injuiy collateraliy. and yet design it
•\vitli a direct intuition upon which he looks with his
face over his shoulder: and hy whatsoever instru-
ment my neighbour may be abused, by the same in-
strument I sin, if I do dcsij;n it antecedently, or fall
upon it together with something else, or rejoice in it
when it is done.

7. One thing more I am to add, that it is not law-
ful to tell a lie in jest. It was a virtue noted in ^iris-
iidcs and Efumino7ulas^ that they would not lie, ewJ*'
vjv TT^iS'tdJc rtvi TfOTa. not iiisport. And as (christian sim-
phcity forbids all lying in matter oi" interest and se-
rious rights: so there is an appendix to tiiis precept,
forbidding to lie in miith; {ov of every idle word a
mail aludl speaks he shall give acconnt in the day ofjud<r-
ment. And such are the jettings v.hirh St. Pavl
Yeckcns, amon^r si things unconieli/. But among these,
fables, epiloj;ufts, parables, or figures of rhetorick,
and any aitificial insti ument of instruction or iimo-
cent pleasure, are not to be reckoned. But he that,
without any end of charity or institution, shall tell
lies only to become ridiculous in himself, or mock
another, hath set sometliing upon his doomsday- book,
which must be taken off by water or by fire, that is,
by repentance or a judgment.

Nothing is easier than simplicity and Ingenuity: it
is open and ready without trouble and artificial cares,
fit iov communities and tfie proper virtue of men, the
necessary a[)pcndage of useful speech, without which
lano'uaire were o-iven to men as nails and teeth to
lions, for nothing but to do mischief; it is a rare in-
strument of institution, and a certain token of cou-
rage, the companion of goodness and a noble mind,
the preserver of friendship, the band of society, the
security of merchants, and the blessing of trade ;
it prevents infinite of quarrels, and appeals to judges,

47& OP CHRTSTiAN SIMPLICITY. Semi. XXIV*

and suffers none of the evils of jealousy. Men by
simplicity converse as do the angels, they do their
own wo:k, and secure their proper interest, and
serve the publirk, and do glory to God : but hypo-
crites, and liars, and dissemblers, spread darkness
over the face of affairs, and make men, like the blind, to
walk softly and timorously: and crafty men, like
the close air, suck that which is open, and devour
its portion, and destroy its liberty : and it is the
guise of devils, and the dishonour of the soul, and
the canker of society, and the enemy of justice, and
truth, and peace, of wealth and honour, of courage
and merchandize.

He is a good man with whom a blind man may
safely converse, dignus quicum in tenebris mices, to
Avijom in respect of his fair treatlngs the darkness
and liixht are both alike : but he that bears ligcht
upon the face, with a daik heart, is like him that
transforms himself into an angel of light., when he
means to do most mischief. Remember this only;
that false colours laid upon the face besmear the skin
and dirty it, but they neither make a beauty nor
mend it.

Apocal. xxii. 15.

For without shall be dogs., and sorcerers., and whore'
mongers, and miirtherers^ and idolaters, and whosoever
loveth and tnaketh a lie.

SERMON XXV.

MIRACLES OF THE DIVINE MERCY.

Psalm Ixxvi. 5.

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in meroy
to all them that call upon thee.

Man having destroyed that which God della^hted In,
that is, the beauty of his soul, fell into an evil por-
tion, and being seized upon by the divine justice,
grew miserable, and condemned to an incurable sor-
row. Poor Jldam^ being banished and undone, went
and lived a sad life in the mountains of India^ and
turned his face and his prayers towards Paradise;
thither he sent his sighs, to that place he directed
his devotions, there was his heart now where his
felicity sometimes had been : but he knew not how
to return thither, for God was his enemy, and by
many of his attributes opposed himself against him.
Go(W power was armed against him ; and poor man,
whom a fly or a fish could kill, was assaulted and
beaten with a sword of fire in the hand of a cherubim.
God's eye watched him, his omniscience was man's
accuser, his severity was the judge, his jtistice the

480 THE MIRACLES OF THE Scrm. XXV*

executioner. It Avas a niiohty calamity that man
"vvas to undergo, wiien lie that made him armed him-
self a<j:ainst liis CiCature, which would have died or
turned to nothing, if he had but withdrawn the mira-
cles and the ahnightiness of liis power: if God had
taken his arm from under him, man had perislied.
But it was therefore a greater evil when God laid
his arm upon him and against him, and seemed to
support him, that he might be longer killing him. In
the midst of these sadnesses God remembered liis
own creature, and pitied it, and by his mercy rescued
*hira from the hand of his power^ and the sword of his
ju'itice, and the u;uilt of his punishment^ and the disorder
of his sin^ani} placed iiim in that order of good things
where he ou^rht to have stood. It was mercv that
pieserved the noblest of God's creatuies here below;
he who stood condemned and undone under all the
^ther attributes of God, was only saved and rescued
by his mercy : that it may be evident that God^s mer-
cy is above all his works, and above all ours, greater
than the creation, and greater than our sins. As is
his majesty, so is his mercy, that is, without measures
and vvilliout rules, silting in heaven and filling all the
world, calling for a duty that he may give a blessing,
making man that he may save liim, punishing him
that he may preserve him. And God's justice bowed
down iohis mercy, and all his />o?6"cr passed h\\o mercy^
and his omniscience converted into care and watchful-
ness, into providence and observation lor man's avail ;
and heaven gave its inliuetice for man, and rained
showers for our food and drink ; and the attributes
and acts of God sat at the foot of mercy, and all that
mercy descended npon the head of man. 1^ or so the
liirht of the world in the morniiiLC of the creation was
spread abroad like a curtain, and dwelt no where,
but tilled tlie cxpansum with a disseminatiorj gieatas
the unfoidings of the air's looser garment, or the

Serm. XXV. divine Merct. 481

wilder fring'cs of flie fire, without knots, or order, or
conibiuation ; but God gat'.ercd the beams in jjis
hand, and united them into a globe of fire, and all
the [i<rht of the world became the body of the sun:
and he lent some to his weaker sister that walks in
the nii^ht, and guides a traveller, and teaches him
to distinguish a house from a river, or a rock from a
plain iield. So is the mercy of God, a vast cxpansum,
and a huofe ocean : from eternal aa:cs it dwelt round
about the throne of ood, and it filled all that infinite
distance and space that hath no measures but the
"wiil of God : until God, desiring to communicate
that excellence and make it relative, created angels^
that he might have persons capable of huge gifts ;
and man^ who he knew would need forgiveness.
For so the angels, our elder brothers, dwelt foiever
in the house of their father, and never break his
commandments; but we, the younger, like piodigals,
forsook our father's house, and went into a strange
country, and foilovved stranger courses, and spent the
portion of our nature, and forfeited all our title to
the family, and came to need another portion. For,
ever since the fall o( ^dam, who, like an unfortunate
man, spent all that a wretched man could need, or a
happy man could have, our life is repentance^ andybr-
giveness is all our portion ; and though angeis were
objects of God's bounty^ yet man only is (in proper
speaking) the object of his mercy : and the mercy
which dwelt in an infinite circle, became confined to
a little ring, atid dwelt here below, and here shall
dwell below, till it hath carried all God's portion up
to heaven, where it shall reign and glory upon our
crowned heads for ever and ever.

But for him that considers God's mercies, and
dwells a while in that depth, it is hard not to talk
wildly and without art and order of discoursing.
St. Peter talked he knew not what, when he entereil

VOL. II. i)2

48-21 THE MIRACLES OP THE Semi. XXV^

into a cloud with Jesus upon mount Tabor^ though it
passed over him hke the little curtains that ride upon
the north wind, and pass between the sun and us.
And when we converse with a light greater than the
sun, and taste a sweetness more dehcious than the
dew of heaven, and ni our thoughts entertain the
ravishments and harmony of that atonement which
reconciles God to man, and man to felicity, it will be
more easily pardoned, if we should be like persons
that admiie much, and say but little ; and indeed we
can best confess the glories of the Lord by dazzled
eyes, and a stammering tongue, and a heai't over-
charged with the miracles of this infinity. For so
those little drops that run over., though they be not
much in themselves, yet they tell that the vessel was
full, and could express the greatness of tlie shower
no otherwise but by spilling, and inartificial expres-
sions and runnings over. But because I have under-
taken to tell the drops of the ocean, and to span the
measui'es of eternity, I must do it by the great lines
of revelation and experience, and tell concerning
God's mercy as we do concerning God himself, that
he is that great fountain of which we all drink, and
the great rock of which we all eat, and on which we
all dwell, and under whose shadow we are all re-
freshed. God's mercy is all this; and we can only
draw great lines of it, and reckon the constellations
of our hemisphere instead of telling the number of
the stars, we only can reckon what we feel and what
we live by : and though there be in every one of
these lines of life, enouirh to en<j:a£:e us for ever to do
God service, and to give hmi praises ; yet it is cer-
tain there are very many mercies of God npon
us, and towards us, and concerning us, which we nei-
ther feel, nor see, nor understand as yet; but yet
"we are blessed by tlicm, and are preserved and se-
cured, and we shall then know them when we come

Serm. XXV. divine mercy. 483

to give God thanks in the festivities of an eternal
sabbath. But that I niaj confine my discouise into
order, since tlie subject of it cannot, I consider,

1. That mercy, being an emanation of the divine
goodness upon us, supposes us and found us mise-
rable. In this account concerning the mercies of
God, I must not reckon the miracles and graces of
the creation, or any thing of the nature of man ; nor
tell how great an endearment God passed upon us,
that he made us men, capable of felicity, apted with
rare instruments of discourse and reason, passions
and desires, notices of sense, and reflections upon
that sense ; that we have not the deformity of a
crocodile, nor the motion of a worm, nor the hunger
of a wolf, nor the wildness of a tiger, nor the birth
of vipers, nor the life of flies, nor the death of
serpents.

Our excellent bodies and useful faculties, the up-
right motion and the tenacious hand, the fair appe-
tites and proportioned satisfactions, our speech and
our perceptions, our acts of life, the rare invention
of letters, and the use of writing, and speaking at a
distance, the intervals of rest and labour, (either of
which, if they were perpetual, would be intolerable)
the needs of nature and the provisions of providence,
sleep and business, refreshments of the body and
entertainments of the soul; these are to be reckoned
as acts of bounty rather than mercy; God gave us
these when he made us, and before we needed
mercy; these were portions of our nature, or pro-
vided to supply our consequent necessities : but
when we forfeited all God's favour by our sins,
then that they were continued or restored to us be-
came a mercy, and therefore ought to be reckoned
upon this new account: for it was a rare mercy that
we were suffered to live at all, or that the anger of
God did permit to us one blessing, that ho did

484 THE MIRACLES OP THE Seiltl. XXV^.

punish us so gontlj : but v.'hen thf rack is changed
into an «.r, and tlie ax into an imprisonment^ and
the imj>risonme,nt changed into an enlargement^ and
the enlaro'enient into an entertainment in the family,
and this entertainment passes on to an adoption ;
these are steps of a mighty favour, and perfect re-
demption from our sin ; and the retui ning back our
owii i^oods is a gift-; and a perfect donative, sweet-
ened by the apprehensions of the calamity from
•whence every lesser punishment began to free us.
And thus it was that God punished us, and visited
the sin o{ Adam upon his pobterity. He threatened
"we should die, and so we did, but not so as we de-
served ; we waited for death, and stood sentenced,
and are daily summoned by sicknesses and uneasi-
ness ,■ and every day is a new reprieve, and brings
a new favour, certain as the revolution of the sun
upon that day; and at last, when we must die by
the irreversible decree, that death is chan;[>ed into a
sleep, and that sleep is in the bosom of Christ, and
there dwells all peace and security^ and it shall pass
forth into glories and felicities. We looked for a
judge., and behold a Saviour ; we feared an accuser^
and behold an advocate; we sat down in sorrow,
and rise in joy ; we leaned upon rhubarb and aloes,
and our aprons were made of the sharp leaves of
Indian fig-trees, and so we fed. and so were clothed;
but the ihubarb proved medicinal, and the rorgh
leaf of the tree brought its iVuit wrapped up in irs
foldin2;s: and round about our dwellings was planted
a hed^-e of thorns and bundles of thistles, the aconite
and the briony., the night-shade and the poppy ; and
at the root of these grew the \\e^\\x\^ plantain., which,
rising up into a tallness by the friendly invitation of
heavenly inlhicnce, turned about the tree of the cross,
and cured the wounds of the thorns, and the curse
of the thistles, and the malediction of man, and the

Serm. XXV. bivink mercy. 485-

wrath of God. St sic irasciiur^ qimmodo conviratur?
If God be thus kind when he is angry, vvliaL is he
wlien he feasts us with caiesscs of his more tender
kindness? All that God restoied to us after the
forfeiture of ►^</«m, grew to be a double kindness;
for it became the expression of a bounty which knew
not how to repent, a graciousness that was not to
be altered, though we were ; and that was it which
we needed: that is the first general: all the bounties
of tlie creation became mercies to us, when God con-
tinued them to us, and restored them after they were
forfeit,

2. But as a circle begins every where, and ends
no where, so do the mercies of God : after all this
huge progress, now it began anew : God is good and
gracioKS, and God is ready to forgive. INow that he
had once more made us capable of mercies, God
had what he desired, and what he could rejoice in;
something upon which he might pour forth his mer-
cies. And, by the way, this 1 shall observe, (for I
cannot but speak without art, when I speak of that
which hath no measure) God made us capable of
one sort of his mercies, and we made ourselves
capable of another. God is good and gracious, that
is, desirous to give great gilts : and of this God
made us receptive, first, by giving us natural possi-
bilities, that is, by giving those gifts, he made us
capable of moie ; and next, by restoring us to his
favour, that he might not, by our provocations, be
hindered fiom raining doivn his mercies. But God
is also ready to forgive : and of this kind of mercy
we made ourselves capable, even by not deserving
it. Our sin made way for his grace, and our inlir-
mities call upon his pity ; and because we sinned, we
became miserable ; and because we were miserable,
we became pitiable; and this opened the othei- trea-
sure of his mercy; that because our si?i abounds^ big

48ft THE MIRACLES OP THE Semi. XXV.

grace may super abound. In this method we must
coniine our thoughts;

- p. . C Thou.1 Lord., art i plenteous in nierey

' IT, •^*- <^ <rood, and ready \ to all them that call

2. r orjjcivins;. a. r - i n

f ^^ jorgwe., J upon thee.

3. God's mercies, or the mercies of his giving^
came first upon us by mending of our nature ; for
the ignorance we fell into is instructed, and better
learned in spiritual notices than ./^dam^s morning
knowledge in Paradise ; our appetites are made
subordinate to the spirit, and the liberty of our wills
is improved, having the liberty of the sons of God ; and
Christ hath done us more ijrace and advantasfe than
we lost m Adam: and as man lost Paradise., and got
Heaven ; so he lost the integrity of tlie first., and got
the perfection of the second Adam : his living soul is
char]ged into a quickening spirit ; our discerning fa-
culties are filled with the spirit of faith, and our pas-
sions and desires are entertained with hope, and our
election is sanctified with charity, and our first life
of a temporal possession, is passed into a better — a
life of spiritual expectations ; and though our first
parent was forbidden it, yet we live of the fruits of
the tree of life. But I instance in two great things in
which human nature is greatly advanced, and passed
on to greater perfections. The first is, that, besides
body and soul, which was the sum total of AdavCs
constitution, God hath superadded to us a third prin-
ciple, the beginner of a better life, I mean the spirit :*
so that now man hath a spiritual and celestial nature
breathed into him, and the old man, that is, the old
constitution, is the least part, and in its proper opera-
tions is dead, or dying; but the new man is that
which gives denomination, life, motion, and proper
actions to a Christian ; and that is renewed in us day

* Vide Senu. ii.

Serm. XXV. ditine merct. 487

In/ day. But, secondly, human nature is so highly
exalted and mended by tliat mercy which God sent
immediately u[)on the ("all of ^idam^ the piomise of
Christ, that when he did romc, and actuate the pur-
poses of this mission, and ascended up into heaven, he
carried human nature above the seats of angels, to
the place whither Lucifer the son of morning aspired
to ascend, but in his attempt fell into hell. For, (so
said the prophet) The son of the niormnu;^ said., I will
ascend into heaven., and sit in the sides of the north., that
is, the throne of Jesus seated in the east, called the
sides of obliquity of the north. And as the seating
of his human nature in that glorious seat brought to
him all adoration, and the majesty of God, and the
greatest of his exaltation: so it was so great an ad-
vancement to us, that all the angels of heaven take
notice of it, and feel a change in the appendage of
their condition; not that they are lessened, but that
we, who in nature are less than angels, have a rela-
tive dignity greater., and an equal honour of being
fellow-servants. This mystery is plain m Scripture,
and the real etfect of it we read in both the Testa-
ments. When JManofdi the father of Sampson saw
an angel, he worshipped him ;* and in the Old Tes-
tament if was esteemed lawful; for they were the
lieutenants of God, sent with the impresses of his
majesty, and took in his name the homage from us,
who then were so much their inferiours. But when
the man Christ Jesus was exalted, and made the
Lord of all the angels, then they became our fellow-
servants, and might not receive worship from any
of the servants oi' Jesus., especially from prophets and
martyrs, and those that arc ministers of the testimo-
ny of Jesus. And therefore when an angel aj>pear-
ed to St. John<, and he, according to the custom of

* Judges xiii.

488 THE MIRACLES OP THE Sevm. XXV,

the Jeivx., fell down and worshipped him, as not yet
knowinp^, or not considering any thing to the contra-
ry; the angel repioved him, saying, See thou doit
not ; I am thy fellow servants and of thy brethren the
prophets^ and. of them which keep the sayings of this
book: worship God; or, as St. Cyprian reads it,
ivnrship Jesus* God -and man are now only capable
of worship; but no angel: God, essentially; maa
in the person of Christ, and in the exaltation of our
groat redeemer ; but angels not so liigh, and there-
fore not capable of any religious worship. And
t'nis dignity of man, St. Gregory explicates fully :
Quid est quod ante redempforis advcntum adormitur ab
hominibus angeli et tacent^ postmodum vero adorari re-
fuo;iunt?'\ Why did the angels of old receive wor-
shipping, and were silent; but in the New Testa-
ment decline it, and fear to accept it ? JVisi quod na-
iuram nostram^ qiiam prius despexerant^ postqiiam hanc
super se assimiptam aspicitmt, prostrataw. sibi videri per-
timescunt ; nee jam sub se velut infirmam contemnere ausi
sunt^ quam super se, viz. in caeli rege, venerantnr : The
reason is, because they seeing our nature, which they
did so lightly value, raised up above them, they fear
to see it humbled under them : neither do they any
more despise the weakness which themselves wor-
ship in the King A Heaven. The same also is in the
sense of the gloss of St. .Ambrose^ j9nsbertus, Haymo,
Rupertus, and others of old ; and Ribera, Salmeron,
and Lewis of Granada of late ; which being so plain-
ly consonant to the words of the angel, and con-
signed by the testimony of such men, I thr? rather
note, that those who worship angels, and make re-
ligious addresses to them, may see what privilege
themselves lose, and how they part with the honour
of Christ, who in his nature relative to us is exalted

''^ Rev. xxii. 9. De bonopatientiae. j Hoinil. Q. in JEvmgel.

Szrm* XXV. civiifrE mercy. 489

far above all thrones and principnUties and dominions,
1 need not add lustre to tliis : it is like the sun, the
big^^est body of iiglit, and nothing- can describe it
so well as its own beams : and there is not in nature
or the advantages of honour any thing greater, than
that we have the issues of tliat mercy which makes
us fellow-servants with angels, too much honoured to
pay them a religious worship, whose lord is a man,
and he that is' their king is our brother.

4. To this, for the likeness of the matter, I add,
that the divine mercy hath so prosecuted us with the
enlargement of his favours, that we are not only fel-
low-ministers and servants with the angels, and in
our nature in the person of Christ exalted above
them; but we also shall be their judges. And
if this be not an honour above that of Joseph or
JUordecai, an honour beyond all the measures of a
man, then there is in honour no degrees, no priori-
ty or distances, or characters of fame and nobleness.
Christ is the great judge of all the world, his human
nature shall then triumph over evil men and evil spirits;
then shall the devils, those angels that fell from their
first originals, be brought in their chains from then dark
prisons, and once be allowed to see the light, that light
that shall confound them; while all that follow the Lamb ^
and that are accounted worthy of that resurrection^ shall
be assessors in the judgment. Know ye «o/ (saith St.
Paul) that ye shall judge angels?* And Terttdlian^
speaking concerning devils and accursed s[)irits, De
cultu foeminarum^ saith, Hi sunt angeli quos judicaturi
sumus^ hi sunt angeli quibus in lavacro renunciavimus ;
those angels which we renounced in baptism, those
we shall judge in the day of the Lord's glory, in the
great day of recompenses. And that the honour
may be yet greater, the same day of sentence that
condemns the evil angels shall also reward the good,

* 1. Cor. vi. 3.

toL. u. 63

490 THE MIRACLES OF THE Serm. XXV.

and increase their glory : Avhich because they derive
from their Lord and ours, from their king and our
elder brother, the King of glories^ wliose glorious
hands shall put the crown upon all our heads, we
Aviio shall be servants of that judijment, and some
way or other assist in it, have a part of that honour,
to be judges of all angels, and of all the world. The
effect of these things ought to be this, that we do not
by base actions dishonour that nature that sits upon
the throne of God, that reigns over angels, that snail
sit in judgment upon all the world. It is a great
indecency that the son of a king should bear water
upon his head, and dress vineyards among the slaves ;
or to see a wise man, and the guide of his country,
drink drunk among the meanest of his servants ; but
"when members of Christ shall be made members of an
harlot^ and that wiiich rides above a rainbow stoops
to an imperious, whorish woman ; when the soul that
is sister to the Lord of angels shall degenerate into
the foolishness or rage of a beast, being drowned
■with the blood of the grape, or made mad with pas-
sion, or ridiculous with weaker follies; we shall but
strip ourscilves of that robe of honour with which
Christ hath invested and adorned our nature; and
carry that portion of humanity which is our own,
and which God hath honoured in some capacities
above angels, into a portion of an eternal shame,
and become less in all senses, and equally disgraced
Avith devils. The shame and sting of this change
shall be, that we turned the glories of the divine
mercy into the baseness of ingratitude, and the
amazement of suffering the divine vengeance. Bui
I pass on.

.5. The next order of divine mercies that I shall
remark, is also an improvement of our nature, or an
appendage to it ; for, whereas our constitution is
weak, our souls apt to diminution and impedite fa-
culties, our bodies to mutilation and imperfection, to

Serm. XXV. divinb merct. 491

blindness and crookedness, to stammering and sor-
rows, to baldness and deformity, to evil contlitions
and accidents of body, and to passions and sadticss
of spirit : God hath, in his infinite mercy, provided lor
every condition rare suppletories of comfort and
use(uhiess, to make recompense, and sometimes with
an over-running- proportion, for those natural defects,
which were apt to make our persons otlierwisc
contemptible, and our conditions intolerable. God
gives to blind men better memories. For upon thi<5
account it is, that Ritffinus makes mention of Dijdi-
mus of Jllexandriu^ who, being blind, was blessed
"with a rare attention and singular memory, and by
prayer, and hearing, and meditating, and discours-
ing, came to be one of the most excellent divines of
that whole age. And it was more remarkable in AVm-
sius J\Iccklint€/isis, who, being blockish at his book, in
his first childhood fell into accidental blindness, and
from thence continually grew to so quick an appre-
hension and so tenacious a memory, that he became
the wonder of his contemporaries, and was chosen
rector of the college at Alechlin^ and was made li-
cenciate of theology at Louvain., and doctor of both
the laws at Cologne^ living and dying in great repu-
tation for his rare parts and excellent learning. At
the same rate also God deals with men in other
instances : want of children he recompenses with
freedom from care; and whatsoever evil happens
to the body, is therefore most commonly single and
tincompanied; because God accepts that evil as the
punishment of the sin of the man, or the instrument
of his virtue or his security, and it is reckoned as a
sufficient antidote. God hath laid a severe law upon
all women, that i7i sorrow^ thet/ shall bring forth chil-
dren : yet God hath so attempered that sorrow, that
they think themselves more accursed if they want
that sorrow; and they have reason to rejoice in

492 THE MIRACLES OP THE Semi. XXV.

that state, the trouble of which is alleviated by a
protnis , that they shall be saved in bearing childreti. He
that wants one eye, hath the force and vigoiousness
of both united in that which is left him : and when-
ever any man is aflljicted with sorrow, his reason and
bis religion, himself and all his friends, persons that
are civil and persons that are obliged, run in to com-
fort him ; and he may, if he will observe wisely,
find so many circumstances of ease and remission,
so many designs of providence and studied favours,
such contrivances of collateral advantage, and cer-
tain reserves of substantial and proper comfort,
that in the whole sum of affairs it often happens, that
a single cross is a doiible blessings and that even in a
temporal sense, it is better to go to the house of mourn'
ingi than of joys and festival egressions. Is not the
afliiction of poverty better than the prosperity of a
great and tempting fortune ? Does not wisdom dwell
in a mean estate and low spirit; retired thoughts,
and under a sad roof? And is it not geneially true,
that sickness itself is appayed with religion and
holy thoughts, with pious resolutions and peniten-
tial prayers, with returns to God and to sober coun-
sels ? And if this be true, that God sends sorrow
to cure sin, and affliction be the hand-maid to grace;
it is also certain, that every sad contingency in na-
ture is doubly recompensed with the advantages of
reliirion, besides those intervening refreshments
which support the spirit, and refresh its instruments,
I shall need to instance but once more in this par-
ticular.

God hath sent no greater evil into the world, than
that in the siccat of our brows we shall eat our bread ;
and in the difficulty and agony, in the sorrows and
contention of our souls, we shall work out our salva-
tion. But see how in the fust of these God hath
outdoue his own anger, and defeated the purposes of

i!ienn. XXV. divine merct. 49;i

his ivralh, by the Inundation of his merct/ ; for this
labour and sweat of our brows is so far from being
a curse, tbat without it our very bread would not
be so great a blessing. Is it not labour that makes
the garlirk and the pulse, the sycamore and the cres-
ses, tlie cheese of the goats and the butter of the
sheep, to be savoury and pleasant as tiie flesh of the roe-
buck, or the milk of the kine, the marrow of oxen
or the thighs of birds; if it were not for labour,
men neither could eat so much, nor relish so pleas-
antly, nor sleep so soundly, nor be so healthful nor
so useful, so strong nor so patient, so noble nor so
untrmpted. And as God hath made us beholden
to labour for the purchase of niany good things, so
the thing itself owes to labour many degrees of its
worth and value. And therefore 1 need not reck-
on, that, besides these advantages, the merries of
God have found out proper and natural renicdies
for labour; nights to cure the sweat of the day,
sleep to ease our W'atchfulness, rest to alleviate our
burthens, and the days of religion to procure our
rest : and thinics are so ordered, that labour is be-
come a duty, and an act of many virtues, and is not
so apt to turn into a sin as its contrary; and is
therefore necessary, not only because we need it for
making provisions for our life, but even to ease the
labour of our rest; there being no greater tedious-
ncss of spirit in the world tiian want of employnient,
and an unaclive life : and the lazy man is not only-
unprofitable, but also accursed, and he groans under
the load of his time ; which yet passes over the
active man light as a dream, or the feathers of a
bird; while the disemployed is a disease, and like
a long sleepless night to himself, and a load unto
his country. And therefore although in this parti-
cular, God hath been so merciful in this inlhrtion,
that from the sharpness of the curse a very great

494 THF MIRACLES OF THE Semu XXV.

part of mankind are freed, and there are myriads
of people, good and bad, \v!io do not eat their bread
in the siveat of their broius ; yet this is but an over-
running and an excess of the divine mercy; God
did more for us than we did absolutely need ; for
he hath so disposed of the circumstances of this
curse, that man's affections are so reconciled to it
that they desire it^ and are delighted in it ; and so
the anger of God is ended in loving-kindness, and
the drop of water is lost in the full chalice of the
wine, and the curse is gone out into a multiplied
blessing.

But then for the other part of the severe law and
laborious imposition, that we must work out our spi-
ritual interest with the labours of our spirit, seems
to most men to be so intolerable, that rather than
pass under it, they quit their hopes of heaven, and
pass into the portion of devils. And what can there
be to alleviate this sorrow, that a man shall be per-
petually solicited with an impure tempter, and shall
carry a flame within him, and all the world is on fire
round about him, and every thing brings fuel to the
flame, and full tables are a snare, aijd empty tables
are collateral servants to a lust, and help to blow
the fire and kindle the heap of prepared temptations;
and yet a man must not at all taste of the forbidden
fruit, and he must not desire what he cannot choose
but desire, and he must not enjoy whatsoever he does
violently covet, and must never satisfy his appetite
in the most violent importunities, but must therefore
deny himself, because to do so is extremly trouble-
some ? This seems to be an art of torture, and a
device to punish man with the spirit of agony, and a
restless vexation. But this also hath in it a great
ingredient of mercy, or rather is nothing else but a
heap of mercy in its entire constitution. For if it
were not for this, we had nothing of our own to pre-

Serm. XXV. divine mercy. 495

sent to God, notliing proportionable to the great
rewards ot" heaven, but either all men, or no man
must go tliither; for nothing can distinguish man
from man in order to beatitude, but choice and election,
and nothing can ennoble the choice but love, and
nothing can exercise love but dijficulty, and nothing
can make that difficulty but the contrctdiction of our
appetite, and the crossing of our natural ail'ections.
And therefore, vviienever any of )'ou are tempted
violently, or grow weary in your spirits with resist-
ing the petulancy of temptation ; you may be cured,
if you will please but to remember and rejoice, that
now you have something of your own to give to God,
something that he will be pleased to accept, some-
thing that he hath given thee that thou mayest give
it him : for our money and our time, our days of
feasting, and our days of sorrow, our discourse and
our acts of praise, our prayers and our songs, our
vows and our offerings, our worshippings and pro-
testations, and whatsoever else can be accounted
in the sum of our religion, are only accepted ac-
cording as they bear along with them portions of
our will, and choice of love, and appendant diffi-
culty.

Laetius est quoties magno tibi constat honestum.'*

So that whoever can complain that he serves God
with pains and mortilications, he is troubled because
there is a distinction of things, such as we call vir-
tue and vice, reward and punishment; and if we will
not sulTer God to distinguish the first, he will cer-
tainly confound the latter: and his portion shall be
blackness without variety, and punishment shall be
his reward.

* While Virtue still vou deem the greatest bliss. A.

496 THE MIRACLES OF THE Sci'M. XXV>

6. As an appendage to this instance o( divine nieV'
cy^ we are to account that, not only in nature, but
in contingency and emeruent events of providence,
God makes compensation to us, for all the evils of
chance and hostilities of accident, and brings good
out of evil ; which is that solemn triumph which
mercy makes over justice, when it rides upon a cloud,
and crowns its darkness with a robe of glorious light.
God indeed suffered Joseph to be sold a bond-slave
into Egypt : but then it was that God intended to
crown and reward his chastity: for by that means
he brouofht him to a fair condition ofdwellino;, and
there gave him a noble trial ; he had a brave con-
tention, and he was a conqueror. Then God sent
him to prison : but still that was mercy, it was to
make way to bring him to PharaoIVs court. And
God brought famine upon Canaan, and troubled all
the souls o[ Jacob'' s family : and there was a plot laid
for another mercy ; this was to bring them to see
and partake ' of Joseph's glory. And then God
brought a great evil upon their posterity, and they
groaned under task-masters : but this God changed
into the miracles of his mercy, and suffered them to
be afflicted that he might do ten miracles for their
sakes, and proclaim to all the world how dear they
were to God. And was not the greatest good to
mankind brought forth from the greatest treason
that ever was committed, the redemption of the
world from the fact of Jvdas ; God loving to defeat
the malice of man and the arts of the devil, by rare
emergencies and stratagems of mercy ? It is a sad
calamity to see a kingdom spoiled, and a church
afflicted; the priests slain with the sword, and the
blood of nobles mingled with cheaper sand ; religion
made a cause of trouble, and the best men most
cruelly persecuted ; government confounded, and
laws ashamed ; judges decreeing causes in fear and

tSerm. XXV. ditinb mercy. 497

covetousncss, and the ministers of holy things set-
ting themselves against all that is sacred, and setting
file upon the fields, and turning in little foxes on
purpose to destroy the vineyurds. And what shall
make lecompense for this heap of sorrows, when-
ever God shall send such swords of fire ? Even the
mercies of God^ which then will be made pubhck,
when we shall hear such afflicted people sing, in
convertendo captivitatem Sion, with the voice of joy
and festival eucharlst, among such as keep holiday;
and when peace shall become sweeter, and dwell
the longer. And in the mean time it serves religion,
and the atHiction shall try the children of God, and
God shall crown them, and men shall grow v\ Iser
and more holy, and leave their petty Interests, and
take sanctuary in holy living, and be taught temper-
ance by their want, and patience by their suffering,
and charity by their persecution, and shall better
understand the duty of their relations; and at last
the secret worm that lay at the root of the plant
shall be drawn fort!), and quite extinguished. For
so have I known a luxuriant vine swell into irregular
twigs and bold excrescences, and spend itself in
leaves and little rings, and afford but trifling clus-
ters to the wine-press, and a faint return to his heart
■which longed to be refreshed with a full vlntag^e :
but when the lord of the vme had caused the dress-
ers to cut the wilder plant, and made it bleed, it
grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves,
and knotted into fair and juicy branches, and mad&
accounts of that loss of blood by the return of fruit.
So is an afflicted province cured of its surfeits, and
punished for its sins, and bleeds for Its long riot, and
is left ungoverned for its disobedience, and chastised
for its wantonness ; and when the sword hath let
forth the corrupted blood, and the fire liath purged
the rest, then it enters into the double joys of rei-

VOL. u. 61

498 THK MIRACLES OP THE Sevm. XXV.

titution, and gives God thanks for his rod, and
confesses the mercies of the Lord in making the
smoke to be chan<T^ed into fire, and the cloud into
a perfume, the sword into a staff, and his anger into
mercy.

Had not David suffered more, if he had suffered
less ? and had he not been miserable, unless he had
been afflicted ? He understood it well when he said,
II is good for me that I have been afflicted. He that
was rival to Crassus when he stood candidate to com-
mand the legions in the Parthian war, was much
troubled that he missed the dignity ; but he saw
liiraself blessed that he scaped the death, and the
dishonour of the overthrow, by that time the sad
news arrived at jRome. The gentleman al Marseilles
cursed his stars that he was absent when the ship set
sail to sea, having long waited for a wind, and miss-
ed it ; but he gave thanks to the providence that
blest him with the cross, when he knew that the ship
perished in the voyage, and all the men were drown-
ed. And even those virgins and barren women in
Jerusalem that longed to become glad mothers, and
for want of children would not be comforted, yet,
when T'itus sacked the city, found the words o( Jesus
true. Blessed is the ivomb that never bare, and the paps
that never gave suck. And the world being govern-
ed with a rare variety, the changes of accidents and
providence ; that which is a misfortune in the particu-
lar, in the whole order of things, becomes a blessing
bigger than we hoped for then, when we were
angry with God for hindering us to perish in pleas-
ant ways, or when he was contriving to pour upon
thy head a mighty blessing. Do not think the judge
condemns you when he chides you, nor think to read
thy own final sentence by the first half of his words.
Stand still, and see how it will be in the whole event
of things : let God speak his mind out; for it may be

Serm. XXV. divine mercy. 499

this sad beginning is but an art to bring in, or to
make thee to esteem, and entertain, and understand
the blessing.

Tliej that love to talk of the mercies of the Lord,
and to recount his good things, cannot but have ob^
served, that (iod dchghts to be called by such appel-
latives which relate to miserable and afllicted per-
sons : He is the father of the fatherless.^ and an aven-
ger of the widow'' s cause ; he statidcth at the right hand
of the poor., to save his soid froin unrii(hteovs judges ;
and he is with us in tribulation. And upon this ground,
let us account whether mercy be not the greater in-
gredient in that death and deprivation, when I lose a
man, and get God to be my father; and when my
weak arm of flesh is cut from my shoulder, and God
makes me to lean upon him, and becomes my patron
and my guide, my advocate and defender. And if in
our greatest misery God's mercy is so conspicuous,
what can we suppose him to be in the endearment
of his loving kindness ? If his evil be so transparent,
well may we know that upon his face dwells glory,
and from his eyes light and perpetual comforts run
in channels larger than the returns of the sea, when
it is driven and forced faster into its natural course,
by the violence of a tempest from the north. The
sum is this : God intends every accident should mi-
nister to virtue, and every virtue is the mother and
the nurse of joy, and both of them daughters of the
divine goodness : and therefore if our sorrows do
not pass into comforts, it is besides God's intention ;
it is because we will not comply with the act of that
mercy which would save us by all means and all va-
rieties, by health and by sickness, by the life and by
the death of our dearest friends, by what we choose
and by what we fear ; that as God's providence rules
over all chances of things arid all desijjns of men, so
his mercy may rule over all his providence.

500 THE MIRACLES OF THB Scrm. XXVI.

SERMON XXVI.

PART II.

7. God having by these means secured us from the
evils of nature and contingencies, and represented
himself to be our father, which is the i^reat c^iff/eor-
ment and tie^ and expression of a natural unalterable
and essential kindness ; he next njakes provisions for
us to supply all those necessities which hiaiself hath
made. For even to make necessities was a great cir-
cumstance of the mercy; and ail the relishes of wine,
and the savouriness of meat, the sweet and the fat,
the pleasure and the satisfaction, the restitution of
spirits, and the strengthening of the heart, and not
owing to the liver of the vine or the kidneys of wheats,
to the blood of the grape or the strength of the corn,
but to the appetite, or the necessity : and therefore
it is, that he that sits at a full table, and does not
recreate his stomach with fasting, and let his diges-
tion rest, and place himself in tiie advantages of na-
ture's intervals ; he loses the blessing of his daily
bread, and leans upon his table as a sick man upon
his bed, or the lion in the grass, which he cannot
feed on : but he that wants it, and sits down when
nature gives the sign, rejoices in the health of his
hunger, and the taste of his meat, and the strength-
ening of his spirit, and gives God thanks, while his
bones and his flesh rejoice in the provisions of nature,
and the blessing of God. Are not the imperfections of
infancy, and the decays of old age the evils of our na-
ture, because respectively they want desire, and they
want gust and relish, and reflections upon their acts
of sense ? and when desire fails, presently the mourn-

Serm. XXVT. divine mercy. 501

ers go abont the streets* But tlien, that those desires
are so provided for by nature and art, hy ordinary
and extraordinary, by foresight and continoency,
according to necessity and up unto conveniency,
until we arrive at abundance, is a chain of mercies
larirer than the bow in the clouds, and richer than
the trees o{ Eden, which were permitted to feed our
miserable father. Is not all the earth our orchard
and our granary, our vineyard and our garden of
pleasure ? and the face of the sea is our traiiick, and
the bowels of the sea is our vivarium^ a place for fish
to feed us, and to serve some other collateral appen-
dant needs ; and all the face of heaven is a repository
for influences and breath, fruitful shoAvers and fair
refreshments. And when God made provision for
his other creatures, he gave it of one kind, and \\\\\\
variety no greater than the changes of day and night,
one devouring the other, or sitting down with his
draught of blood, or walking upon his portion of
grass : but man hath all the food of beasts, and all
the beasts themselves that are fit for food, and the
food of angels^ and the dew of heaven^ and the fatness of
the earth; and every part of his body hath a provision
made for it: and the smoothness of the olive and the
juice of the vine refresh the heart, and make the
face cheerful, and serve the ends of joy and the fes-
tivity of man ; and are not only to cure hunger or to
allay thirst, but appease a passion and allay a sor-
row. It is an infinite variety of meat with which
God furnishes out the table of mankind. And in the
covering our sin, and clothing our nakedness, God
passed from fig leaves to the skins of beasts, from
aprons to long robes, from leather to wool, and from
thence to the warmth of furs, and the coolness of silks;
he hath dressed not only our needs, but hath fitted

* Eccles. x,ii.

j502 THE MIRACLES ot THE Sevm. XXVt.

the several portions of the year, and made us to go
dressed like our mother, leaving off the winter sables
when the florid spring appears, and as soon as the
tulip fades we put on the robe of summer, and then
shear our sheep for winter : and God uses us as Jo-
seph did his brother Benjamin ; we have many
changes of raiment, and our mess is five times bigger
than the provision made for our brothers of the crea-
tion. But the providence and mercies of God are to
bo estimated also, according as these provisions are
dispensed to every single person. For that I may not
remark the bounties of God running over the tables
of the rich, God hath also made provision for the
poorest person ; so that if they can but rule their
desires, they shall have their tables furnished. And
this is secured and provided for by one promise and
two duties, by our oivn labour and our brofher''s charity':
and our faith in this alTair is confirmed by all our own,
and by all the experience of other men. Are not all
the men and the women of the world provided for,
and fed and clothed till they die ? and was it not al-
ways so from the first morning of the creatures.'* And
that a man is starved to death is a violence and a
rare' contingency, happening almost as seldom as
for a man to have but one eye: and if our being
provided for be as certain as for a man to have two
eyes, we have reason to adore the wisdom, and ad-
mire the mercies of our Almighty Father. But
these things are evident. Is it not a great thing that
God hath made such strange provisions for our
health ? such infinite differences of plants, and hath
discovered the secrets of their nature by mere
chance, or by inspiration ? Either of which is the mi-
racle of providence, secret to us, but ordered by cer-
tain and regular decrees of heaven. It was a huge
diligence and care of the divine mercy, that discover-
ed to man the secrets of spagyrick medicines, of
stones, of spirits, and the results of seven or eight

Serm. XXVI. divide mercv. 503

decoctions, and the strange effects of accidental mix-
tures, which the art of man could not suspect, beinff
bound up in tlie secret sanctuary of hidden causes
and secret natures, and being laid open by the con-
course of twenty or thirty httlc accidents, all which
weie ordered by God, as certainly as are the first
principles of nature, or the descent of sons from tiic
fathers in the most noble families.

But that which 1 shall observe in jhis whole af-
fair, is, that there are, both for the provision of our ta-
bles and the relief of our sicknesses, so many miracles
of providence, that they give plain demonstration what
relation we bear to heaven : and the poor man need
not be troubled that he is to expect his daily portion
after the sun is up ; for he hath found to this day he
was not deceived : and then he may rejoice, because
he sees by an effective probation, that in heaven a
decree was made, every day to send him provisions
of meat and drink. And that is a mighty mercy,
when the circles of heaven are bowed down to wrap
us in a bosom of care and nourishment, and the wis-
dom of God is daily busied to serve his mercy, as his
mercy serves our necessities. Does not God plant
remedies there where the diseases are most popular.'*
and every country is best provided against its own
evils. Is not the rhubarb found where the sun most
corrupts the liver; and the scabious by the shore
of the sea, that God might cure as soon as he wounds }
and the inhabitants may see their remedy against the
leprosy and the scurvy, before they feel their sick-
ness. And then to this we may add nature's com-
mons and open fields, the shores of rivers and the
strand of the sea, the unconfined air, the wilderness
that hath no hedge ; and that in these evciy man
may hunt and fowl and fish respectively; and that
God sends some miracles and extraordinary blessings
so for the publick good, that he will not endure they

504 THE MIRACLES OP THE Scrm. XXVL

should be inclosed and made several. Thus he is
pleased to dispense the manna of Calabria, the medi-
cinal waters of Germany, the muscles at Sluce at this
day, and the Egyptian beans in the marshes of jil-
bania, and the salt at Troas of old ; which God, to
defeat the covetousness of man, and to spread his
mercy over the face of the indigent, as the sun scat-
ters his beams over the bosom of the whole earth,
did so order, that as lono^ as every man was permitted
to partake, the bosom of lieaven was open ; but when
man oathered them into sing-le handfuls and made
them impropriate, God gathered his hand into his
bosom, and bound the heavens with ribs of brass,
and the earth witli decrees of iron, and the blessing
reverted to him that gave it, since they might not re-
ceive it to whom it was sent. And in general, this Is
the excellency of this mercy, that all our needs are
certainly supplied and secured by a promise which
God cannot break: but he that cannot break the
laws of his own promises, can break the laws of na-
ture that he may perform his promise, and he will
do a miracle rather than forsake thee in thy needs:
so that our security and the relative mercy is bound
upon us, by all the power and the truth of God.

8. But because such is the bounty of God, that
he hath provided a better life for the inheritance of
man, if God is so merciful in making lair provisions
for our less noble part, in order to the transition to-
ward our country, we may expect that the mercies
of God have rare arts to secure to us his desiofned
bounty, in order to our inheritance, to that which
ought to be our portion for ever. And here I con-
sider, that it is an infinite mercy of the Almighty
Father of mercies, that he hath appointed to ug
such a religion that leads us to a huge felicity through
pleasant ways. For the felicity that is designed to
us, is so above our present capacities and conceptions,

Serm. XXVI. divine merct. 50j

that while we are so l<^norant, as not to understand
it, we are also so foolish, as not to desire it with pas-
sions great enough to perCorni the little conditions of
its purchase. God therefore knowing how great an
interest it is, and how apt we would be to neglect it,
hati) found out sucii conditions of acquiring it, which,
are eases and satisfaction to our present appetites.
God hath I'ound our salvation upon us by the en-
dearment of temporal prosperities; and because we
love this world so well, God hath so ordered it, that
even this world may secure the other. And of this,
God in old time made open profession : for when he
had secretly designed to bring his people to a glori-
ous immortality in another world, he told them no-
thing of that, it being a thing bigger than the capa-
city of their thoughts, or of their theology; but told
them that which would tempt them most, and en-
dear obedience ; If you u ill obey ^ ye shall eat ihe good
things of the land; ye shall possess a rich country, ye
shall triumph over your enemies, ye shall have nu-
merous families, blessed children, rich granaries,
over-running wine-presses. For God knew the cog-
nation of most of ihetn was so dear between their
atfections and the o-ood thingrs of this world, that if
they did not obey in hope of that they did need, and
fancy, and love, and see, and feel; it was not to be
expected they should quit their affections for a se-
cret in another world, whither before they come,
they must die, and lose all desire and all capacities
of enjoyment. But this design of God, which was
bare-faced in the days of the law, is now in the gos-
pel interwoven secretly (but yet plain enough to be
discovered by an eye of faith and reason) into every
virtue; and temporal advantage is a great ingre-
dient in the constitution of every Christian grace.
For so the richest tissue dazzles the beholder's eye,
when the sun reflects upon the m«tal, tlje silver and
VOL. II. 65

506 THE MIRACLES OF THE SeriJl. XXVI.

the gold weavcd into fantastick imagery, or a wealthy
plainness; but the rich wire and shining filaments
are wrought upon cheaper silk, the spoil of worms
and Hie s : so is the embroidery of our virtue. The
glories oi the spirit dwell upon the face and vest-
ment, upon the fringes and the borders, and there
we see the beryl and onyx, the jasper and the sar-
donyx, order and perfection, love, and peace, and
joy, mortification of the passions and ravishment of
the will, adherences to God and imitation of Christ,
reception and entertainment of the Holy Ghost, and
longings after heaven, humility and chastity, tempe-
rance and sobriety ; these make the frame of the
garment, the clothes of the soul, that it may not be
found naked in the day of the Lord^s visitation : but
through these rich materials a thread of silk is drawn,
some compliance with worms and weaker creatures,
something that shall please our bowels, and make
the lower man to rejoice ; they are wrought upon
secular content and material satisfactions ; and now
we cannot be happy unless we be pious, and the
religion of a Christian is the greatest security, and
the most certain instrument of making a man rich,
and pleasing^ and healthful^ and tvise, and beloved^ in
the whole world. I shall now remark only two or
three instances ; for the main body of this truth I
have other-where represented.

1. The whole religion of a Christian, as it relates
to others, is nothing but justice and mercy, certain
parents of peace and benefit: and upon this suppo-
sition, what evil can come to a just and a merciful, to
a necessary and useful person ? For the first per-
mission of evil was upon the stock of injustice. He
that kills may be killed, and he that does injury may
be mischiefed ; he that invades another man's right
must venture the loss of his own ; and when I put
my brother to his defence, he may chance drive the

Serm. XXVI. divine merct. 507

evil so far from himself, that it may reach me. Laws
and judges, piivatc and publick judicatures, wars and
tribunals, axes and wheels were made, not for the
righteous, but for the unjust; and all that whole or-
der of things and persons would be useless, if men
did do as they would willingly sulfer.*

2. And because there is no evil that can befal a
just man, unless it comes by injury and violence, our
religion hath also made as good provisions against
that too, as the nature of the thing will suffer. For
by patience we are reconciled to the sufferance, and
by hope and faith we see a certain consequent re-
ward; and by piaying for the persecuting man, we
are cured of all the evil of the mind, the envy and
the fretfulness that uses to gall the troubled and re-
sisting man : and when we turn all the passion into
charity, and God turns all the suffering into reward,
there remains nothing that is very formidable. So
that our religion obliges us to such duties, which pre-
vent all evils that happen justly to men, (and in our
religion no man can suffer as a malefactor, if he fol-
lows the religion truly :) and for the evils that are
unavoidable and come by violence, the graces of this
discipline turn them into virtues and rewards, and
make them that in their event they are desirable, and
in the suffering they are very tolerable.

3. But then when we consider, that the religion of
a Christian consists in doing good to all men, that it
is made up of mercies and friendships, of fnendly
conventions and assemblies of saints, that all are
to do good works for necessary uses, that is, to be able
to be beneficial to the publick, and not to be burthen-
some to any, where it can be avoided ; what can be
wished to men in relation to others, and what can
be more beneficial to themselves, than that they be

* Life of Jesus Christ. Part. 3. Disc. 14.

508 THE MTRACLE8 OP THE Serin. XXVI.

such whom other men will value for their interest,
such whom the pubhrk does need, such whom
princes and nobles ought to esteem, and all men can
make use of accordin-x to their sfr;veral conditions:
that they are so well provided for, that, unless a per-
secution disables them, they cannot only niaintain
tiiGmselves, but oblige others to their charity ? This
is a temporal good, which all wise nfen reckon as
part of that felicity which recompenses all the la-
bours of their day, and sweetens the sleep of their
night, and places them in that circle of neighbour-
hood and amity, where men are most valued and
most secure.

4. To this we may add this material consideration :
that all those graces which oblige us to do efood to
others, are nothing else but certain instruments of
doinoj advantagce to ourselves. It is a huofe noble-
ness of chanty to give alms, not only to our brother,
but for him. It is the Christian sacrifice, like that
of Job, who made oblations for his sons when they
feasted each other, fearing lest they had sinned
against God: and if I give alms, and fast and pray
in behalf of my prince or my patron, my friend or
my children, I do acombination of holy actions, which
are of all things that I can do, the most effectual in-
tercession for him wiiom I so recommend. But then
observe the art of this, and what a plot is laid by the
divine mercy to secure blessing to ourselves. That
I am a person fit to intercede and pray for him, must
suppose me a gracious person, one whom God rather
will accept; so that before I be fit to pray and inter-
pose for him, I m-jst first become dear to God, and
my charity can do him no good, for whose interest I
gave it, but by making me first acceptable to God,
that so he may the rather hear me; and when I fast,
it is first an act of repentance for myself, before it
can be an instrument of irapetration for him. And

Serm.XXVL divine mercy. 509

thus do I my brother a single benefit by doing my-
self a double one. And it is also so ordered, that
when I pray for a person for whom God will not hear
me, yet then he will hear me tor ni) self, thongh 1 say
nothing in my own behalf: and our piaycrs are like
Jonathan's arrows; if they tall short, yet they re-
turn ray friend or my friendship to me; or if they
fo home, they secure him whom they pray for, and
have not only the comfort of rejoicing with him,
but the honour and tlie reward of procuring him a
joy. And certain it is, that the charitable prayer
for another can never want what it asks, or instead
of it, a «;reater blessincr. The iiood man that saw
his poor brother troubled, because he had nothing
to present for an olfering at the holy conimunion,
(when all knew themselves obliged to do kindness
for Christ's poor members, with which themselves
"were incorporated with so mysterious an union)
and gave him money that he might present foi- the
good of his soul, as other Christians did, had rjot
only tiic reward of alms, but of religion too; and
that offering was well husbanded, lor it did benefit
to two souls. For as I sin when I make another sin ;
so if I help him to do a good, I am sharer in the
gains of that talent, and he shall not have the less,
but I shall be rewarded upon his stock. And this
"was it which David rejoiced in, Parliceps sum omnium
timentium te ; I am a partner^ a companion of all tlicm
that fear thee, I share in their profits. If I do but re-
joice at every grace of God which I see in my bro-
ther, I shall be rewarded for that grace ; and wc
need not envy the excellency of another, it becomes
mine as well as his: and if I do rejoice, J shall have
cause to rejoice. So excellent, so full, so artificial is
the mercy of God, in making, and seeking, and find-,
ing all occasions to do us good.

510 THE MIRACLES OF TUB »S^€rni. XXV L

5. The very charity, and love, and mercy that is
commanded in our religion, is in itself a great excel-
lency, not only in order to heaven, but to the com-
forts of the earth too, and such without which a man
is not capable of a blessing or a comfort; and he
that sent chanty and friendships into the world, in-
tended charity to be as relative as justice, and to do
its effect both upon the loving and the beloved person.
It is a reward and a blessing to a kind father, when
his children do well, and every degree of prudent
love which he bears to them is an endearment of his
joy, and he that loves them not, but looks upon them
as burthens of necessity, and loads to his fortune,
loses those many rejoicings and the pleasures of
kindness, which they feast withal, who love to divide
their fortunes amongst them, because they have al-
ready divided large and equal portions of their heart.
I have instanced in this relation ; but it is true in all
the excellency of fi iendship : and every man rejoices
twice when he hath a partner of his joy. A friend
shares my sorrow, and makes it but a moiety; but
he swells my joy, and makes it double. For so two
channels divide the river, and lessen it into rivulets,
and make it fordable, and apt to be drunk up at the
first revels of the Sirian star; but two torches do
not divide, but increase the flame : and though my
tears are the sooner dried up when they run upon
my friend's cheeks In the furrows of compassion ; yet
when my flame hath kindled his lamp, we unite the
glories, and make them radiant, like the golden can-
dlesticks that burn before the throne of God, because
they shine by numbers, by unions, and confedera-
tions of light and joy.

And now upon this account, which is already so
great, I need not reckon concerning the collateral Is-
euesand littlestreamsof comfort, whichGod hath made
to issue from that religion to which God hath oblig-

Serm. XXVI. bivine mercy. 511

ed us : such as are mutual comforts^ visiting sick peo-
ple, instructing the ignorant, and so becoming better
instructed, and fort iJie(L and comforted ouvsches by the
instruments oi our brother's ease and advantages :
the glories of converting souls, of rescuing a sinner from
hell, of a miserable man from the grave, the honour
and nobleness of being a good man, the noble confi-
dence and the braverj of innocence, the ease of pa-
tience, the quiet of contentedncss, the rest of per.ce-
fulness, the worthiness of forgiving others, the great-
ness of spirit that is in despising riches, and the
sweetness of spirit that is in meekness and humility:
these are Christian graces in every sense ; favours
of God, and issues of his bounty and his mercy.
But all that 1 shall now observe further concerning
them is this, that God hath made these necessary ;
he hath obliged us to have them, under pain of dam-
nation ; he hath made it so sure to us to become
happy even in this world, that if we will not, he hath
threatened to destroy us ; which is not a desire or
aptness to do us an evil, but an art to make it im-
possible that we should. For God hath so ordered
it, that we cannot perish, unless we desire it our-
selves: and unless we will do ourselves a mischief
on purpose to get hell, we are secured of heaven ; and
there is not in the nature of things any way that can
more infalliblj do the work of felicity upon creatures
that can choose, than to make that which they
should naturally choose, be spiritually their duty :
and then he will make them happy hereafter, if they
will sulTer him to make them happy here. But hard
by stand another throng of mercies, that must be
considered by us, and God must be glorified in them;
for they are such as are intended to preserve to us
all this felicity.

9. God, that he might secure our duty, and our
present and consequent felicity, hath tied us with

512 THE MIRACLES OF THE Semi. XXVL

golden chains, and bound us not only with the brace-
Iv^ls of love and the dellciousness of hope, but witli
the ruder cords of fear and reverence, even with all
the innumerable parts of a restraining grace. For
it is a liui^e aggravation of human calamity to con-
sider, that after a man hath been instructed in the
love and advantages of his religion, and knows it to
be the way of honour and felicity, and that to pre-
varicate his only sanctions is certain death and dis-
grace to eternal ages ; yet that some men shall de-
spise their religion, others shall be very weary of its
laws, and call the commandments a burtlien, and too
many, with a perfect choice, shall delight in death
and the ways that lead thither ; and they choose
money infinitely, and to rule over their brother by
all means, and to be revenged extremely, and to
prevail by wrong, and to do all that they can, and
please themselves in all that they desire, and love
it fondly, and be restless in ail things but where
they perish. If God should not interpose by the
hearts of a miraculous and mercitijl grace, and put
a bridle in the mouth of our lusts, and chastise the
sea of oiH' follies by some heaps of sand or the walls
of a rock, we should perish in the deluge of sin uni-
versally, as the old world did in that storm of the
divine anger, the flood of waters. But thus God suf-
fers but few adulteries in the world, in respect of what
would be, if all men that desire to be adulterers had
povverand opportunity: and yet some men and very
many women are, by modesty and natural shamefac-
edness, chastised in tlieir too forward appetites, or the
laws of man, or publick reputation, or the indecency
and unhandsome ciicumstances of sin, check the de-
sire, and make it that it cannot arrive at act. For so
have i seen a busy flame sitting upon a sullen coal,
turn its point to all the angles and portions of its neigh-
bourhood, and reach at a heap of prepared straw?

Serm. XXVI. divine mercy. 513

which, hke a bold temptation, called it to a restless
motion and activity' ; but either it was at too big- a
distance, or a gfentle breath from heaven diverted tlie
spliere and the ray of tlie tire to the other side, and
so prevented the violence of the binning, till the
flame ex()ircd in a weak consumption, and died
turning" into smoke, and the coolness of death, and
the harmlessness of a cinder. And when a man's
desires are winged with sails and a lusty wind of
passion, and pas-s on in a smooth channel of oppor-
tunity, God oftentimes hinders the lust and the im-
patient desire from passing on to its port, and enter-
ing into action, by a sudden thought, by a little re-
membrance of a word, by a fancy, by a sudden dis-
ability, by unreasonable and unlikely fears, by the
sudden intervening of company, by the very weari-
ness of the passion, by curiosity, by want of health,
by the too great violence of the desire, bursting it-
self with its fullness into dissolution and a remiss
easiness, by a sentence of ^cripture, by the reverence
of a good man, or else by the proper interventions
of the spirit of grace chastising the crime, and re-
presenting its appendant mischiefs, and its constituent
disorder and niegularity : and after all this, the
very anguish and trouble of being defeated in the
purpose hath rolled itself into so much uneasiness
and unquiet reflections, tiiat the man is grown
ashamed and vexed into more sober counsels.

And the mercy of God is not less than infmite in
separating men from the occasions of their sin, from
the neighbourhood and temptation. For if the
hya:na and a dog should be thrust into the same ken-
nel, one of them would soon fmd a grave, and it
may be both of them their death. So infallible is
the ruin of most men, if they be showed a tempta-
tion : nitre and rosin, naphtha and bitumen, sulphur
and pitch, are their constitution J and the lire passes

VOL. II. <JG

^M THE MIRACLES OK THE Semi. XXVI.

upon them infinitely, and there is none to secure
them. But God, by removing our sins far from us,
as far as the east is from the west, not only putting
away the guilt, but setting the occasion far from
us, extremely far, so far that sometimes wc cannot
sin., and many times not easily, hath magnified his
mercy, by giving us safety in all those measures in
which we are untempted. It would be the matter of
new discourses, if I should consider concerning the
variety of God's grace : his preventing and accom-
panying, his inviting and corroborating grace ; his
assisting us to will, his enabling us to do ; his send-
ing angels to watch us, to remove us from evil com-
pany, to drive us with swords of fire from iorbid-
den instances, to carry us by unobserved opportuni-
ties into holy company, to minister occasions of holy
discourses, to make it, by some means or other, neces-
sary to do a holy action, to make us in love with
virtue, because they have mingled that virtue with a
just and a fair interest ; to some men, by making reli-
gion that thing they live upon, to others, the means
of their reputation and the securities of their honour,
and thousands of ways more, which every prudent
man that watches the ways of God cannot but have
observed. But I must also observe other great
conjugations of mercy; for he that is to pass
through an infinite, must not dwell upon every lit-
tle line of life.

10. The next order of mercies is such which is of
so pure and unmingled constitution, that it hath at
first no regard to the capacities and dispositions
of the receivers, and afterwards, when it hath, it
relates only to such conditions which itself creates
and produces in the suscipient; I mean the mercies
of the divine predestination. For was it not an infi-
nite mercy that God should predestinate all mankind
to salvation by Jesus Christ, even when he had no

Serrn. XXVL divij^e merct. 615

other reason to move him to it, but because man was
miserable, and needed his pity ? But 1 shall instance
only in the intermedial part of this mysterious mer-
cy. Why should God cause us to be born of Chris-
tian parents, and not to be circumcised by the im-
pure hand of a Turkish priest? What distinguished
me from another, that my father was severe in his
discipline, and careful to bring me up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord., and I was not exposed
to the carelessness of an irrelijj-ious o-uardian, and
taught to steal and lie, and to make sport with my
infant vices and beginnings of iniquity ? Who was
it that discerned our persons from the lot of dying
Chrysoms, whose portion must be among those who
never glorified God with a free obedience ? What
had you done of good, or towards it, that you
were nt>t condemned to that stupid ignorance, which
makes the souls of most men to be little higher
than beast, and who understand nothing of religion
and noble principles, of parables and wise sayings
of old men ? And not only in our cradles, but in
our schools and our colleges, in our friendships
and in our marriages, in our enmities and in
our conversations, in our virtues and in our vices,
where all things in us were equal, or else we were
the infcriour, there is none of us but have felt the
mercies of many differences. Or it may be my bro-
ther and I were intemperate, and drunk, and quar-
relsome, and he killed a man; but God did not
suflfer me to do so : he fell down and died with a
little disorder ; I was a beast, and yet was permit-
ted to live, and not yet to die in my sins : he did
amiss once, and was surprised in that disadvantage ;
I sin daily, and am still invited to repentance : he
would fain have lived and amended ; I neglect the
grace, but am allowed the time. And when God
sends the angel of his wrath to execute his anger
upon a sinful people, wo are encompassed with fu-

516 TUB MIRACLES OP THB Semi. XXVI.

nerals, and yet the angel liatli not smitten us: what
or who makes the ditference ? We shall then see,
■when, in the separations of eternity, 2vc sitting in
glorify shall see some of the partners of our sins car-
ried into despair, and the poitions of the left hand,
and roarini^ in the seats of tiie reprobate ; we shall
tiicn perceive that it is even that mercy which hath
no cause but itself: no measure of its emanation
but our misery, no natural litint but eternity, no be-
ginning but God, no object but man, no reason but an
essential and an unalterable goodness, no variety but
our necessity and capacity, no change but new instan-
ces of its own nature, no ending or repentance but our
absolute and obstinate refusal to entertain it.

11. Lastly, all the mercies of God are concentred
in that which is all the felicity of man : and God is so
great a lover of souls, that he provides securities and
fair conditions for them, even against all our reason
and hopes, our expectations and w'eak discoursings.
The particulars 1 shall remark are these : I. God's
mercy prevails over the malice and ignorances, the
weaknesses and follies of men; so that m the conven-
tions and assemblies of hereticks, (as the word is
usually understood, for erring and mistaken people)
although their doctrines are such, that, if men should
live according to their proper and natural consequen-
ces, they would live impiously, yet in every one of
these there are persons so innocently and invincibly
mistaken, and who mean nothing but truth, while, in
the simplicity of their heart, they talk nothing but
errour, that in the defiance and contradiction of their
o'vn doctrines they live according to its contradictory.
He that believes contrition alone, with confession to a
priest, is enough to expiate ten tho(Jsand sins, is fur-
nished with an excuse easy enough to quit himself
from the troubles of a holy life; and he that hath a
great many cheap ways of buying olF his penances for

Serm.XXVl. divine mercy. 517

a little money, even for the greatest sins, is tauglit a
way not to fear the doing of an act, for wiiich he tmist
repent ; since repentance is a duty so sooru so certain-
ly^ and so eusilij ])erloiined. But these are notorious
doctrines of the Romun church: and yet God so loves
the souls of his creatures, tliat many men who tiust
to these doctrines in their discouihts, dare not reiy
upon them in their hves. But while they talk as if
they did not need to live strictly, many of them live so
strictly as if they did not believe so foolishly. He that
tells that, antecedently, God hath to all human
choice decreed men to heaven or to hell, and takes
away from men all care of the way, because the) be-
lieve, that he that infallibly decreed that end hath
unalterably appointed the means ; and some men that
talk thus wildly, live soberly, and are over-wiought
in their understanding by some secret art of God,
that man may not perish in his ignorance, but be as-
sisted in his choice, and saved by the divine mercies.
And there is no sect of men but are furnished with
antidotes and little excuses to cure the venom of
their doctrine : and therefore, although the adherent
and constituent poison is notorious, and therefore to
be declined ; yet because it is collaterally cured and
overpowered by the toi'rcnt and wisdom of God's
mercies, the men arc to be taken into the choir,
that we may all join in giving God praise for the ope-
ration of his hands. 2. 1 said formerly, that there are
many secret and undiscerned mercies, by which men
live, and of which men can give no account till they
come to give God thanks at tlieir publication : and of
this sort is that mercy which God reserves for the souls
of many millions of men and women, concerning whom
we have no hopes, if we account concerning them by
the usual proportions of revelation and Christian com-
mandments ; and yet we are taught to hope some
strange good things concerning them, by the analogy,

518 THE MIRACLES OF THE SenU.XXVL

and general rules of the divine mercy. For what shall
become of ignorant Christians, people that live in
wildernesses, and places more desert than a primitive
hermitage ? people that are baptized, and taught to
go to church, it may be, once a year? people tiiat
can o'et no more knowledge, they know not where
to have it, nor how to desire it? and yet that an eter-
nity of pains shall be consequent to such an ignorance,
is unhke the mercy of God : and yet that they shall
be in any disposition towards an eternity of intellec-
tual joyg, is no where set down in the leaves of reve-
lation. And when the Jews grew rebellious, or a
silly woman of the daughters of Abraham was
tempted, and sinned, and punished with death, we
visually talk as if that death passed on to a worse ;
but yet we may arrest our thoughts upon the divine
mercies, and consider that it is reasonable to expect
from the divine goodness, that no greater forfeiture
be taken upon a law, than was expressed in its sanc-
tion and publication. He that makes a law, and
binds it with the penalty of stripes, we say he intends
not to afflict the disobedient with scorpions and axes ;
and it had been hugely necessary that God had sca-
red iheJews from their sins, by threatening the pains
of hell to them that disobeyed, if he intended to in-
flict it; for although many men would have ventured
the future, since they are not affrighted with the
present and visible evil ; yet some persons would
have had more philosophical and spiritual apprehen-
sions than others, and have been infallibly cured in
all their temptations with the fear of an eternal pain :
and however, whether they had or no, yet since it
cannot be understood how it consists with the divine
justice to exact a pain bigger than he threatened,
greater than he give warning of, we are sure it is a
great way off from God's mercy to do so. He that
usually imposes less, and is loth to inflict any, and

Serm. XXVI. divine merct. 319

very often forgives it all, is hugely distant from ex-
acting an eternal punishment, when tlie most that he
threatened and gave notice of, was but a temporal.
The effect of this consideration I would have to be
this : that we may publickly worship this mercy of
God which is kept in secret, and that we be not too
forward in sentencing all heathens, and prevaricating
Jews, to the eternal pains of hell ; but to hope that
they have a portion in the secrets of the divine mer-
cy, where also, unless many of us have some little
portions deposited, our condition will be very uncer-
tain, and sometimes most miserable. God knows
best, how intolerably accursed a thing it is to perish in
the eternal flames of hell, and therefore he is not easy
to inflict it: and if the joys of heaven be too great to be
expected upon too easy terms, certainly the pains of the
damned are infinitely too big to pass lightly upon
persons who cannot help themselves, and who, if they
were helped with clearer revelations, would have
avoided them. But as, in these things, we must not
pry into the secrets of the divine economy, being
sure, whether it be so or no, it is most just even as it
is ; so we may expect to see the glories of the divine
mercy made publick in unexpected instances, at the
great day of manifestation. And indeed our dead
many times go forth from our hands very strangely
and carelessly, without prayers, without sacraments,
without consideration, without counsel, and without
comfort : and to dress the souls of our dear people
at so sad a parting, is an employment we therefore
omit, not always because we are negligent, but be-
cause the work is sad, and allays the afi'ections of the
world with those melancholick circumstances ; but
if God did not in his mercies make secret and equiva-
lent provisions for them, and take care of his re-
deemed ones, we might unhajjpily meet them in a
sad eternity, and without remedy weep together, and

520 THE MiRACLi's OF THE Semi. XXVII.

groan for ever. But God hat ft provided better things
for them, that they without us^ that is, wiliiout our as-
sistaiices, shall be made perfect.

SERMON XXVIL

PART III.

There are very many more orders and conjuga-
tions of mercies : but because the numbers of them
naturally tend to their own greatness, that is, to have no
measure, I must reckon but a few more, and them also
without order: for that they do descend upon us,
we see and feel, but what order of things or causes,
is as undiscerned as the head of JSVus^ or a sudden
remembrance of a long neglected and forgotten pro-
position.

I. But upon this account it is that good men have
observed, that the providence of God is so great a pro-
vider for holy living, and does so certainly minister
to religion, that nature and chance, the order of the
world and the influences of heaven, are taup;ht to
serve the ends o{ the spirit of God and the spirit of a
man. I do not speak of the miracles that God hath, in
the several periods of the world, WTought for the es-
tablishing his laws, and confirming his promises, and
securing our obedience ; though that was all the way
the overdowings and miracles of mercy as well as
power : but that which I consider is, that besides the
extraoidinary emanations of the divine power, upon
the fust and most solemn occasions of an institution
and the tirst begiunings of a rehgion, (such as were

Serm. XXVIL divine mercy. 521

the wonders God did in Egijpt and in the wilderness,
preparatoi) to the sanction of that law and the first
covenant) and the rairach's wrought by Christ and hig
apostles for the foiniding and the building up the reli-
gion of the gospel and the new covenant ; God does
also do tilings wonderiul and miraculous for the pro-
moting the ordinary and less solemn actions of ouu
piety, and to assist and accompany them in a con-
stant and rec;ulaj" succession. It was a slran2:e varie-
ty of natural ellicacies, that manna should stink in
twenty-four hours if gathered upon Wednesday and
Thursday, and that it should last till forty-eight hours
if gathered upon the even of the sabbath ; and that
it should last many hundreds of yeais when placed
in the sanctuary by the ministry of the high priest.
But so it was in the Jews^ religion : and manna pleas-
ed eveiy palate, and it fdled all appetites, and the
same measure was a diffeient proportion, it was
much and it was little ; as if nature, that it might
serve reli-»ion, had been tauo;ht some nseasures of
infinity, which is every wlieie and no wheie, filiing all
things and circumscribed with nothing, measuicd by
one omer, and doinff the work of two ; like the
crowns of kinffs, fittin": the brows o\ JYimrod^ and the
most mighty warriour, and jet not too large for the
temples of an infant prince. And not only is it thus
in nature, but in contingencies and acts depending
upon the choice of men. For God having command-
ed the sons o( Israel to go up to Jerusalem to \Aorship
thrice every year, and to leave their boideis to be
guarded by women and children and sick persons, in
the neighbourhood of diligent and spitelul enemies;
yet God so disposed of their hearts and opportuni-
ties, that they never entered the land when the peo-
ple were at their solemnity, until they desecrated
their rites, by doing, at their passover, the greatest
sin and treason in the world. I'ill, at Eaater, they
VOL. II. 67

f}'2'2 THE MIRACLES OP THE Scrm. XXV 11.

rru rifled the Lord of life and glory, they were secure
in Jcruscdcm and in their horders : but when they bad
destroyed rehgion by this act, God look away their
security, and 2'itus besieged the city at the feast of
Easter, that the more might perish in the deluge of
the divine indignation.

To this observation the Jeivs add, that in Jerusa-
km no man ever had a fall that came thither to wor-
ship; that at their solemn festivals there was recep-
tion in the town for all the inhabitants of the land :
concerning which although I cannot affirm anything,
yet this is certain, that no godly person among all
the tribes of Israel was ever a beggar^ but all the variety
of human chances were overruled to the purposes of
providence, and providence was measuied by the
ends of the religion, and the rehgion which promised
them plenty performed the promise, till the nation
and the religion too began to decline, that it might
give place to a better ministry, and a more excellent
dispensation of the things of the world.

But when Christian religion was planted, and had
taken root^ and had filled all lands, then all the nature
of things, the whole creation, became servant to the
kingdom of grace; and the head of the religion is also
the head of the creatures, and ministers all the things
of the world in order to the spirit of grace: and now
angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
the good of them that fear the Lord ; and all the vio-
lences of men and things, of nature and choice, are
forced into subjection and lowest ministries, and to
co-operate as with an united design to verify all the
promises of the gospel, and to secure and advantage
all the children of' the kingdom: and now he that is
made poor by chance or persecution, is made rich
by religion, and he that /ia//i nothing, yet possesses all
things; and sorrow itself is the greatest comfort, uoi
only because it ministers to virtue, but because itself

Serm. XXVII. divine mercy. 523

is one, as In the case of repentance; 2ind death minis-
ters to ///<?, and bondage h freedom, and loss \s gain,
and our enemies are our friends, and every thinii; turns
into religion, and religion turns into felicity and all
manner of advantages. But that I may not need to
enumerate any more particulars in this observation :
certain it is, that anoejs of lio;ht and darkness, all tlie
intiuences of heaven and the fiuits and productions
of the earth, the stars and the elements, the secret
thmgs that lie in the bowels of the sea and the en-
trails of ihe earth, the single effects of all efficients
and the conjunction of all causes, all events foi-esecn
and all rart^ contingencies, every thing of cliance and
every thing of choice, is so much a servant to him
■whose greatest desire and great interest is by all
means to save our souls, that we are thereby made
sure, that all the whole creation shall be made to
bend in all the flexures of its nature and accidents,
that it may minister to religion, to the good ot the
Catholick church, and every person within its bosom,
who are the body of him that rules overall the world,
and commands them as he chooses.

2. But that which is next to this, and not much
unlike the design of this wondeilul mercy, is, that
all the actions of religion, though mingled with cir-
cumstances of differing, and sometimes of contradic-
tory, relations, are so concentred in God their proper
centre, and conducted in such certain and pure chan-
nels of reason and ride, that no one duty does contra-
dict another: and it can never be necessary for any
man in any case to sin. They that bound themselves
by an oath to kiH Paul, were not environed with the
sad necessities of murthcr on one side, and vow-breach
on the other, so that, if they did murther him, tliey
were man-slayers, if they did not, they -were perjured ;
for God had made provision for this case, that no
unlawful oath should pass an obligation. He that

524 THE mthacles op the Serm. XXVIL

liath 2:iven liis faith in unlavvfiii confederation affainst

^ . . . . -^.

his prince, is not p,ird(<J with a fatal necessity of

breach of trust on one side, or breach oi allegiance
on the other; for in this also God hath se nred
the case oi conscience, bj forbiddinoj any man to
make an unla.vfiil promise; and upon a stronger de-
gree of the same reason, by forbidding liim to keep
it in case he hath made it. He that doubts whether
it be lawful to keep the Sunday holy, must not do it
durin f th'\t doubt, because ivhafsoever is not offaithis
sin: but yet God's mercy hath taken care to break
this snare in sunder, so that he may neiiher sin against
the commandment, nor against his conscience; for
he is bound to lay aside hiserrour, and be better in-
structed; till when, the scene of his sin lies in some-
thing that hath influence upon his understanding, not
in the omission of the fact. JYo man can serve two
masters, but therefore he must hate the one^ and cleave
to the other. But then if we consider what infinite
contradiction there is in sin, and that the great long-
suffcrir»g of God is expressed in this, that God suffer-
ed the contradiction of sinners ; we shall feel the niercy
of God in the peace of our consciences and the unity
of religion, so long as we do the work of God. It is
a huge affront to a covetous man, that he is the
farther off from fulness by having great heaps and
vast levenues; and that his thirst increases by having
that which should nueneji it; and that the moje he
shall need to be satistied, the less he shall dare to
do it; and that he shaii refuse to drink because he
is dry ; that he dies if he tasies, and languishes if he
does not: and at the same time he is fidl and empty,
h'ii:i'.jn>y with a plethory and consumed with huni-er,
drowned with rivers of oil and wine, and )et dry as
the .'Arabian sands. But then the contradiction is
multiplied, and tiie labyrinths more amazed, when
prodigality waits upon auotlier curse, and covetous-

Serm. XXV1T. divine mercy. 525

ness heaps up, that prof]i2;ahty may scatter abroad:
then distractions are infinite, and a nmn hatli two de-
vils to serve of contradictory 'designs, and both of
them exacting obedience more unreasonably than
the Eirifptian task-masters ; then there is no rest, no
end of labours, no satisfaction of purposes, no method
of things, but they begin where tlioy should end,
and begin again; and never pass forth to content, or
reason, or quietness, or possession. But the duty of
a Christian is easy in a persecution, it is clear under
a tyranny, it is evident in despite of heresy, it is one
in tiie midst of schism, it is determined amongst in-
fuiite disputes ; being like a ruck in the sea, uhich
is beaten with the tide, and washed with retiring
waters, and encompassed with mists and appears in
several figures, but it always dips its foot in the
same bottom, and remains the same in calms and
storms, atid survives the revolution of ten tliousand
tides, and there shall dwell till time and tides shall
be no more. So is our duty, uniform and constant,
open and notorious, variously represented, but in the
same manner exacted : and in the interest of our
souls God hath not exposed us to uncertainty, or the
variety of any thing that can change; and it is, by
the grace and iiteicy of God, put into the power of
every Christian to do that which God through Jesus
Christ will accept to salvation : and neither men nor
devils shall hinder it, unless we list ourselves.

3. After all this, we may sit down and reckon
by great sums and conjugations of his gracious gifts,
and tell the minutes of eternity by the number of
the divine mercies. God hath given his laws to rule
us, his word to instruct us, his spirit to guide us,
his ano-els to protect us, his iiwtisters to exhort us :
he revealed all our duty, and he hath co^cea/ct/ what-
soever can hinder us ; he hath ajfrighted our follies
"with fear of death, and engaged our watchfulness

526 THE MIRACLES OP THE Semi. XXVII.

by its secret cornln<^; he hath exercised our faith
by keepinj^ private the state of souls departed, and
yet hath coudrmed our faith by a promise of a re-
surrection, and entertained our hope by some ge-
neral significations of the state of interval. His
mercies make contemptible means instrumental to
great purposes, and a small herb the remedy of the
greatest diseases. He impedes the devil's rage, and
infatuates his counsels; he diverts his malice, and
deleats his purposes ; he binds him in the chain of
darkness, and gives him no power over the chil-
dren of light ; he suffers him to walk in solitary
places, and yet fetters him that he cannot disturb the
sleep of a child; he hath given him mighty power,
and yet a young maiden that resists hmi shall make
him dee away ; he hath given him a vast knowledge,
and yet an ignorant man can confute him with the
twelve articles of his creed ; he gave him power
over the winds, and made him prince of the air, and
yet the breath of a holy prayer can drive him as
far as the utmost sea ; and he hath so restrained him,
that (except it be by faith) we know not whether
there be any devil, yea or no ; for we never heard
his noises, nor have seen his aifrighting shapes.
This is that great principle of all the felicity we hope
for, and of all the means thither, and of all the skill
and all the strengths we have to t:se those means.
He hath made great variety of conditions, and yet
hath made all necessary, and all mutual helpers ;
and by some Instruments and in some respects they
are all equal, In order to felicity, to content, and final
and intermedial satisfaction. He gave us part of
our reward in hand, that he might enable us to
work for more : he taught the world arts for use,
arts for entertainment of all our faculties and all
our dispositions: he gives eternal gifts for tem-
poral services, and gives us_ whatsoever we want

Serm. XXVII. divine merct. 527

for askings and commands us to ask, and threatens
us if we will not ask, and punishes us lor retus-
ini^ to be happy. Tliis is that glorious attribute
that hath made o?Wer and healthy harmony and hojje,
restitutions and variety^ the joys of direct possession,
and the joys, the artiiicial joys of contrariety and
comparison. He comforts the pour, and he brings
down the rich, that they may be safe, in their hu-
mility and sorrow, from the transportations of an
unhapjiy and uninstructed prosperity. He gives ne-
cessaries to all, and scatters the extraordinary pro-
visions so, that every nation may traflick in charity,
and commute for pleasures. He was the Lord of
hosts, diU(\ he is still what he was ; but he loves to be
called the God of peace ; because he was terrible in
that, but he is delighted in this. His mercy is his
glory, and his gloiy is the light of heaven. His
mercy is the life of the creation, and it fills all the
earth ; and his mercy is a sea too, and it fills all the
abysses of the deep : it hath given us promises for
supply of whatsoever we need, and relieves us m
all our tears, and in all the evils that we sulFer. His
mercies are more than we can tell, and they are more
than we can feel : for all the world in the abyss of the
divine mercies is like a man diving into the bottom of
the sea, over whose head the waters run insensibly and
unperceived, and yet the weight is vast, and the sum
of them is unineasurable ; and the man is not pressed
with the burthen, nor confounded with numbers: and
no observation is able to recount, no sense sufficient to
perceive, no memory large enough to retain, no un-
derstanding great enough to apprehend this infini-
ty ; but we must admire, and love, and worship^ and
magnify this mercy forever and ever; that we may-
dwell in what we feel, and be comprehended by that
which IS equal to God, and the parent of all felicity.

528 THE MIRACLES OF THE Servi. XXVIL

And yet this is but the one half. The mercies of
givino; I have now told of; but those o{ forgiving
are greater, thouj^h not more. He is ready to for-
give. And upon this stock thrives the interest of
our ffreat hope, the hopes of a blessed immojtality.
Yov if the mercies of o-ivino; have not made our ex-
pertations big enough to entertain the confidences of
heaven; jet when we think of the graciousness and
readifiess o( forgiving^ we may with more readiness
hooe to escape heli, and then we cannot but be
blessed by an eternal consequence. We have but
small opinion of the divine mercy, if we dare not
believe concerning it, that it is desirous, and able, and
ivatchfid, ii'\f{ pa'^sioiiate, to keep us, or rescue us re-
spectively from such a condemnation, ihe pain of
"which is insupportable, and tlie duration is eternal,
and the extension is misery uj)on all our faculties, and
the intention is great beyond patience, or natural or
supernatural abilities, and the state is a state of dark-
ness and despair, of co.ifusion and amazement, of
cursing and roaring, anguish of spirit and gnash-
ing of te(!th, misery universal, perfect and irre-
mediable. From this it is which God's mercies
would so fain preserve us. This is a state that
God provides for his enemies, not for them that love
him; that endeavour to obey, though they do it but
in weakness ; that weep truly for their sins, though
but with a sho.ver no bigger than the drops of pity;
that wait for his coming with a holy and pure flame,
though tiieir lamps are no brighter than a poor man's
candle, though their strengths are no greater than
a contrite reed or a strained arm, r.nd their fires have
no more warmth than the smoke of kindling flax. If
our faith be pure, and our love unfeigned, if the de-
grees of it be great, God will accept it into glory; if
it be little, he will accept it into grace, and make it
biffffer. For that is the iirst instance of God's leadi-

DO

Berm. XXVII. divine mfrct* 529

ness to forgive : he will, upon any terms that are not
unreasoMah'e. and iliac do not suppose a re inatjtnt af-
fection tosin, keep us from the intolerable | ainsof i ell.
And indeed if we consider the constitution of tiie ■on-
ditions which God requires, we shall soon ptrcive
God intends heaven to us as a mere gift, and tliat the
duties on our part aie but little entertainments and
exercises of our affections nnd our love, that the
devil mii^ht not seize upon that portion which to
eternal ages shall be the instrument of our happi-
ness. For, in all the parts of our duty, it may be
there is but one instance in which we are to do
violence to our natural and tirst desires. For tliose
men have very ill natures, to whom virtue is so con-
trary that t\]Hy are inclined naturally to lust^ tc drunk'
enness and«;i:,'er, io pride and covetousnessi to iiniharik^
fulness and disobedience. Most men that are tempted
with lust could easily enough entertain the sobrie-
ties of other counsels, as of temperance and jus-
tice, or religion, if it would indulge to them but that
one passion of lust; and persons that are greedy of
money are not fond of amorous vanities, nor cai e they
to sit long at the wine: and one vice destro}s ano-
ther: and when one vice is consequent to another, it
is by way of punishment and der&iiction of tlje man,
unless where vices have cognation, and seem but
like several degrees of one another. And it is evil
custom and supeiinduced habits that make artificial
appetites in most me.^ to most sins : but many times
their natural temper vexes them into uneasy dispo-
sitions, and aptnesses only to some one unhandsome
sort of action. That one thing, therefore, is it in
which God demands of thee raoriification and self^
denial.

Certain it is, there are very many men in the
world that would fain commute thcii severity, in all
other instances, for a license in their one appetite j

VOL. II. 68

.13(t THE MIRACLBS OF THE Scrm. XXVIL

they would not refuse long prayers after a drunken
meeting, or great alms together with one great lust.
But then consider how it is for them to go to heaven.
God demands of them, for his sake and their own, to
crucify but one natural Just, or one evil habit, (for all
ihe rest they are easy enough to do themselves) and
God will give them heaven, where the joy is more
than one. And I said it is but one mortification God
requires of most men ; for if those persons would
extirpate but that one thing in which they are prin-
cipally tempted, it is not easily imaginable that any
less evil, to which the temptation is tritllng, should
interpose between them and their great interest.
If Saul had not spared Jigag-t the peo[>]e could not
have expected mercy : and our little and inferiour
appetites, that rather come to us by intimation and
consequent adherences than by direct violence, must
not dwell Avith him who hath crossed the violence
of his distempered nature in a beloved instance.
Since therefore this is the sTate of most men, and
God in effect demands of them but one thing, and in
exchange for that will give them all good things ; it
gives demonstration of his huge easiness to re-
deem us from that intolerable evil, that is equally
consequent to the indulging to one or to twenty
sinful habits.

2. God^s readiness to pardon appears In this, that
he pardons before we ask ; for he that bids us ask
for pardon, hath in design and purpose done the
ihing already : for, what is wanting on his part, in
whose only power it is to give pardon, and in whose
desire it is that we should be pardoned, and icho com-
mands us to lay hold upon the otfer ? He hath done
all that belongs to God, that is, all that concerns the
pardon ; there it lies ready, it is recorded in the
ook of life, it wants nothing but being exemplified

Serm, XXVII. divine mercf. 531

and taken forth, and the holy spirit stands ready to
consign and pass the privy signet, that we may ex-
hibit it to devils and evil men, when they tempt us to
despair or sin.

3. Nay, God is so ready in his mercy, that he did
pardon us even before he redeemed us. For, what
IS the secret of the mystery, that the eternal son of
God should take upon him our nature, and die our
deatii, and snlferfor our sins, and do our work, and
enable us to do our own ? He tliat did this, is God j
he who ihoiiirht it no robbery to be equal ivith God, he
came to satisfy himself, to pay to himself the price
for his own creature. And when he did this for U8
that he might pardon us, was lie at that instant angry
with us ? was this an effect of his anger or of his
love, that God sent his son to work our pardon and
salvation ? Indeed we were angry with God, at en-
mity with the prince of life; but he was reconciled to
us so far, as that he then did the greatest thing in the
Avorld for us : for nothing could be greater than that
God, the son of God, should die for us. Here was
reconciliation before pardon : and God, that came to
die for us, did love us first before he came. This
was hasty love. But it went farther yet.

4. God pardoned us before we sinned ; and when
he foresaw our sin, even mine and yours, he sent his
son to die for us ; our pardon was wrought and ef-
fected by Christ's death, above sixteen hundred years
ago ; and for the sins of to-morrow, and the infirmi-
ties of the next day, Christ is already dead, already
risen from the dead, and does now make intercession
and atonement. And this is not only a favour to us
who were born in the due time of the gospel, but to
all mankind since Jldani : for God, who is infinitely
patient in his justice, was not at all patient in his
mercy ; he forbears to strike and punish us, but he
would not forbear to provide cure for us and remedy.

532 THE MIRACLES OP THE Scrm. XXVII.

For, as irGod could not stay from redeeming us, ho
promised the Redeemer to Adam in tiie beginning of
the world's sin ; and Christ was the lamb dain from
the be>rinning of the world ; and the covenant otthe gos-
pel, though it was not made with man, yet it was from
the bej^iiiiiing performed by God as to his pai t, as to
the ministjation of pardon; the seed of the woman was
set up against the dragon as soon as ever the tempter
had woo his first battle ; and though God iaid hig
hand, and drew a veil of types and secrecy before
the maniiestatfon of his mercies ; yet he did ihe
work of redemption, and saved us by the covenant
of faith, and the righteousness of believing, and the
meicies of repentance, the graces of pardon, and the
blood of the slain lamb, even from the fall o{ Jldam.
to this very day, and will do till Christ's second
coming.

Adam fell by his folly, and did not perform the co-
venant of one little work, a work of a single abstinence;
but he was restored by faith in tiie seed of the wo-
m\n. And of this righteousness JVouh was a preacher :
and by faith Enoch was tranrdated, and by faith a rem-
lia it was saved at the flood : and to Abraham this ivas
i?7iou(ed for righteousness, and to all the patriaichs,
and to all the righteous judges, and holy prophets,
and saints of the Old Testament, even while ihej
were obliged (so far as the words of their covenant
were expressed) to the laiv of works : their pardon
was sealed and kept within the veil, within the cur-
tains of the sanctuary ; and they saw it not then, but
they f(;el it ever since. And this was a great excel-
lency of tile divine mercy unto them. God had mer-
cy on all mankind b(^tbre Chiist's manifestation, even
beyond the mercies of their covenant ; and they were
saved as we are, by the seed uf the icoman, by God in-
carnate, by the lamb slain from the beginning of the
tvorld : not by works, for we ail failed of them ; that

Serm. XXVII. divine MEncT. 5S3

is, not by an exact obedience ; but bt/ falih icorMng
by love^ by sincere, hearty endeavouib, and believing
God, and relyinsj upon his iniinite mercy, levealed in
part, and now fully manifest by the great instrument
and means of tliat mercy, Jesus Ckrlsi. So that here
is pardon before we asked it, pardon before (Christ's
coming, pardon before redemption, and pardon before
"we siimed. What oreater readiness to loro-ive us
can be imagined ? Yes, there is one degree more
yet; and that will prevent a mistake in this.

5. For God so pardoned us once, that we should
need nu more pardon : he paidons us by turm.,g every
one of us away from our inujuilies. That is the pur-
pose of Christ; that he mlglit safely pardon us be-
fore we sinned, and we might not sin upon the confi-
dence of pardon. He pardoned us, not only upon
condition we would sin no njore, but he took a\\ay our
sin, cured our cursed inclinations, inst) ucted our un-
derstanding, rectified our will, foitified us against
temptation; and now every man whom lie pardons
he also sanctities, and he is born of God. and he must
not, will not^ cannot sin, so long as the seed of God re-
mains with him, so long as his pardon continues. This
is the consununation of pardon For if God had so
pardoned us, as only to take away our evils which
are past, we should have needed a second sa\ lour,
and a redeemer for every njonth, and new pardons
perpetually. But our blessed Redeemer hath taken
away our sin, not only the guilt of our old, but our
inclinations to new sins: he makes us like himself;
and commands us to live so, that we shall not need
a second pardon, that is, a second state of pardon :
for we are but once baptized into Christ's death, and
that death was but one, and our redemption but one-,
and our covenant the same; and as long as we con-
tinue within the covenant, we are still within the
power and comprehensions of the first pardon.

534 *i!B MrRACLEs OF THE Semi. XXVII.

6. And yet there is a necessity of having one de-
gree of pardon more beyond all this. For although
we do not abjure our covenant, and renounce Christ,
and extinguish the spirit ; yet we resist him, and we
grieve him, and we go off from the hohness of the
covenant, and return again, and very often step aside,
and need this great pardon to be perpetually apphed
and renewed : and to this purpose, that we may not
have a possible need without a certain remedy, the
holy J esus^ the author and finisher of our faith dnd par-
don, sits in heaven, in a perpetual advocation for us,
that this pardon, once wrought, may be for ever ap-
plied to everj emergent need, and every tumour of
pride, and every broken heart, and every disturbed
conscience, and upon every true and sincere return
of a hearty repentance. And now upon this title no
more degrees can be added : it is already greater,
and was before all our needs, than the old covenant,
and beyond the revelations, and did in Jidarti's youth
antedate the gospel, turning the publick miseries by
secret grace \nXo eternal glories. But now upon other
circumstances it is remarkable and excellent, and
swells like an hydropick cloud when it is fed with
the breath of the morning tide, till it fills the bosom
of heaven, and descends in dews and gentle showers,
to water and refresh the earth.

7. God is so ready to forgive, that himself works
our dispositions towards it, and either must in some
degree pardon us before we are capable of pardon,
by his grace making way for his mercy, or else we
can never hope for pardon. For unless God by his
preventing grace should first work the first part of
our pardon, even without any dispositions of our own
to receive it, we could not desire a pardon, nor hope
for it, nor work towards it, nor ask it, nor receive it.
This giving oi preventing grace is a mercy of forgive-
ness, contrary to, that severity by which some despe»-

Serm. XXVIT. divine merct. 63."j

rate persons are given over to a reprobate sense ; that
is, a leaving of men to themselves, so tiiat liiey cannot
pray eircctuallv, nor desire hoHly, nor repent truly,
nor receive any of those mercies which God designed
so picntcously, and t!ie son ot God purchased so dear-
ly for us. VVhen God sends a pla;2;ue of war upon a
land, in all the accounts of religion and expectations
of reason, the way to obtain our peace is, to leave our
sins, for which the war was sent upon us, as the mes-
senger of wrath : and without this, we are like to
perish in the judgment. But then consider what a
sad condition we are in : war mends but few, but
spoils multitudes ; it legitimates rapine, and autlior-
izes murder ; and these crimes must be ministered to
by their lesser relatives, by covetousness, and anger,
and pride, and revenge, and heats of blood, and
wilder liberty^, and all the evil that can be supposed
to come from, or run to, such cursed causes of mis-
chief. But then if tlie punishment increases the sin,
by what instrument can the punishment be removed.'*
How shall we be pardoned and eased, when our
remedies are converted into causes of the sickness^
and our antidotes are poison ? Here there is a plain
necessity' of God's preventing grace ; and if there be
but a necessity of it, that is enough to ascertain us ive
shall have it : but unless God siiould begin to pardoo
us first, for nothing, and against our own dispositions^
we see there is no help in us nor for us. If we be
not smitten, we are undone, if we are smitten, we
perish : and, as young Demarclms said of his love,
when he was made master of his wish, salvvs sum, quia
per CO ; si non peream^ plane inteream ; w-e may say of
some of God's judgments, we perish when we are safe,
because our sins are not smitten; and if they be, then
we are worse undone : because we grow Avorse for
being miserable; but we can be relieved only by a
free mercy. For pardon is the icay to pardon : and

536 ffHE MIRACLES OF THE Serm. XXVII,

when God gives iis our penny, then we can work for
another; and a giil is the way to a grace, and all
that we can do towards it, is but to take it in God's
method. And this must needs be a great forward-
ness of forgiveness, when God's mercy gives the par-
don and the way to find it, and the hand to receive it,
and the eye to search it, and the heart to desire it ;
being busy and effective as Klijah''s lire, which in-
tend in.(>* to convert tiie sacrifice into its own more
spiritual nature of flames and purified substances,
stood in the neighbourhood of the fuel, and caiJed
forth its enemies, and hcked up the hindering mois-
ture and the water of the trenches, and made the
altar send forth a fantastick smoke beibre the sacri-
fice was enkindled. So is the preventing grace of
God : it does all the work of our souls, and makes
its own way, and invites itself, and prepares its own
lodging, and makes its own entertainment; it gives
us precepts, and makes us able to keep them ; it en-
ables our faculties, and excites our desires ; it pro-
vokes us to pray, and sanctifies our heart in prayer,
and makes our prayer go forth to act, and the act
does make the desire valid, and the desire does make
i\\G act certain and persevering; and both of them
are the works of God. For more is received into
the soul from without the soul, than does proceed
from within the soul : it is more for the soul to be
moved and disposed, than to work when that is done ;
as the passage from death to life is greater than from
life to action, especially since the action is owing to
that cause that put in the first principle of life.

These are the gieat degrees of God's forwardness
and readiness to fonrive^ for the expression of which
no language is sufhcient, but God's own words de-
scribing mercy in all those dimensions which can sig-
nify to us its greatness and ii <inity. His mercy is
greats his mercies are many, his mercy reucheth tmto the

i

jScrm. XXVII. divine mercy. 537

heavens^ It fills heaven and earthy it is above aJlJiis icorl'S,
it endureth for ever. God pitieth us as a father doth
his children ; nay, ho is our fatlier, and the same also
is the father of mercies., and the God of all comfort ; so
that mercy and we have the same relation : and well
it may be so, for we Hve and die toGjethcr; for as to
man only God shows the mercy of forgiveness, so if
God takes away his mercy, man sliall be no more;
no more capable of lehcity, or of any thing tliat ia
perfective of his condition or his person. But as
God preserves man by his mercy, so his mercy hath
all its operations upon man, and returns to its own
centre and incircumscription and infinity, unless it
issues forth upon us. And therefore, besides the
former great lines of the mercy of forgiveness, there
is another chain, which but to produce and tell its
links, is to open a cabinet of jewels, where every
stone is as bright as a star, and every star is great as
the sun, and sfiines for ever, unless we shut our eyes,
or draw the veil of obstinate and final sins.

1. God is lonjr-siifferino-, that is, lonff before he be
angry ;. and yet God is provoked every day, by the
obstinacy of the Jeiosn and the folly of tlie heathens,
and the rudeness and infidelity of the Mahometans,
and the negligence and vices of Christians: and he
that can behold no impurity., is received in all places
with perfumes of mu&hrooms, and garments spotted
with the flesh., and stained souls, and the actions and
issues of misbelief, and an evil conscience, and with
accursed sins that he hates, upon pretence of reli-
gion which he loves; and he is made a party against
himself by our voluntary mistakes ; and men continue
ten years, and twenty, and thirty, and ^hy, in a
course of sinning, and they grow old with the vices
of their youth; and yet God forbears to kill them,
-and to consign them over to an eternity of horrid
pains, still expecting they should repent and be savcda

VOL. u. 69

638 THE MfRACLEs OP THE Serm. XXVIL

2. Besides this long-sufferance and forbearing with
an unwearied patience, God also excuses a sinner
oftentimes, and takes a little thing for an excuse, so
far as to move him to intermedial favours first, and
from tiience to a final pardon. He passes bj the
gins of oar youth with a huge easiness to pardon, if
he be intreated and reconciled by the effective re-
pentance of a vigorous manhood. He takes igno-
rance for an excuse; and in every degree of its being
inevitable or innocent in its proper cause, it is also
inculpable and innocent in its proper eflects, though
in their own natures criminal. But I found mercy of
the Lord, because I did it in ignorance, saith St. Paul.
He pities our infirmities, and strikes off much of the
account upon that stock: the violence of a tempta-
tion and restlessness of its motion, the perpetuity of
its solicitation, the weariness of a man's spirit, the
state of sickness, the necessity of secular affairs, the
publick customs of a people, have all of them a
power of pleading and prevailing, towards some de-
grees of pardon and diminution before the throne of
God.

3. When God perceives himself forced to strike,
yet tlien he takes off his hand, and repents him of
the evil : it is as if it were against him, tiiat any of
his creatures should fail under the strokes of an ex-
termiiiatiiig fury.

i. VViiv^n he is forced to proceed, he yet makes an
end before he hath half done ; and is as glad of a
pretoiice to pardon us, or to strike less, as if he him-
self had the deliverance, and not we. Wiien »/^hab
had b(it humbled himself at tne word of the Lord,
God was j-^lad of it, and went with the message to
the propiiei himself saying, Seest thou not hoiv JJhah
hum'fles ■limsdf? What was the event of it? I ivill
7W' l/'in ■ liic evil in his days, but in his son's days the
evii ghail come upon his house.

Serm. XXVIL divine merct. 531)

5. God forgets our sin, and puts it out of his re-
membrance; that is, he makes it as though it had
never been, he makes penitence to be as pure as
innocence to all the eOects of pardon and glorj :
the memory of the sins shall not be upon record,
to be used to any after-act of disadvantage ; and
never shall return, unless we force thcni out of
their secret places by ingratitude and a new state of
sinninaf.

6. God sometimes gives pardon beyond all his
revelations and declared will, and provides supple-
tories of repentances, even then when he cuts a
man oiT from the time of repentance, accepting a
temporal death instead of an eternal; that although
the divine anger might interrupt the growing of the
fruits, yet in some cases, and to some persons, the
death and the very cutting off shall go no farther,
but be instead of explicit and long repentances.
Thus it happened to Uzzah^ who was smitten for his
zeal, and died in severity, for prevaricating the let-
ter, by earnestness of spirit to serve the whole reli-
gion. Thus it was also in the case of the Corirdhi-
ans, that died a temporal death for their indecent
circumstances in receiving the holy sacrament : St.
PauU who used it for an argument to threaten them
into reverence, went no farther, nor pressed the
argument to a sadder issue, than to die temporally.

But these suppletories arc but sehiom, and they
are also great troubles, and ever without comfort,
and dispensed irregularly, and that not in the case of
habitual sins, thai we know of, or very great sins,
but in single actions or instances of a less malignity ;
and they are not to be relied upon, because there
is no rule concerning them : but when they do
happen, they magnify the infiniteness of God's mer-
cy, which is commensurate to all our needs, and is

510 THE MIRACLES OP THE Serm. XXVIL

not to be circumscribed by the limits of his own re-
velations.

7. God pardons the greatest sinners, and hath
left them upon record ; and there is no instance in
the scripture of the divine forgiveness, but in such
instances, the misery of which was a fit instrument
to speak aloud the glories of God's mercies, and
gentleness, and readiness to forgive. Such were, St.
Paul, a persecutor, and St. Peter, that forswore his
master, Mary Magdalen with seven devil«, the thief
upon the cross, Manasses an idolater, David a mur-
derer and adulterer, the Corinlhian for incest, the
children o{ Israel Cor ten times rebellins: aoainst the
Lord in the wilderness, with murmuring, and infide-
lity, and rebellion, and schism, and a golden calf, and
open disobedience : and, above all, I shall instance
in the Pharisees amonjr the Jcivs, who had sinned
agamst the holy Ghost, as our blessed Saviour in-
timates, and tells the particular, viz. in saying that
the spirit of God by which Christ did work, was an
evil spirit; and afterward they crucified Christ; so
that two of the persons of the most holy Trinity
•were openly and solemnly defied, and God had sent
out a decree that they should be cut oif : yet, forty
years time (after all this) was left for their repent-
ance, and they were called upon by arguments
more persuasive and more excellent, in that forty
years, than all the nation had heard from their pro-
phets, even from Satnuel to Zacharias. And Jonas
thouo'ht he had reason on his side to refuse to 2:0 to
threaten JYineveh ; he knew God's tenderness in
destroying his creatures, and that he should be
thought to be but a false prophet ; and so it came
to pass according to his behel. Jonah prayed unto
the Lord and said, I pray thee, Lord, was not this my
^ayimr when 1 7vas yet in my country ? Therefore IJled;
for I kneiv thou ivcrt a gracious God and merciful.

Serm. XXVIl. divine merct. 641

sloiv to anger, and ofs^rcat kindness, and repenfest ihcc
of the evil* He told bcfoie hand what llic event
would be, and he liad reason to know it; God pro-
claimed it in a cloud' beJorc the face of all hracl^
and made it to be his name ; JMiserator ct misericors
Deus : the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gra-
cious, &c.t

You see the larf>:eness of this treasure ; but we can
see no end, for we have not yet looked upon the rare
arts of conversion ; nor that God leaves the natural
habit of virtues, even after the acceptation is inter-
rupted ; nor his vvorkins^ extra-rc<rular miracles, be-
sides the sulliciency of JMoses and the prophets^ and the
New Testament ; and thousands more, which we
cannot consider now.

But this we can : when God sent an angel to pour
plagues upon the earth, there were in their hands
phialae aureae, golden phitds : for the death of men is
precious and costly, and it is an exjiense that God de-
lights not in : but they were phials, that is, such ves-
sels as out of them no great evil could come at once;
but it comes out with diiliculty, sobbing and troubled
as it passes forth ; it comes through a narrow neck,
and the parts of it crowd at the port to get forth,
and are stilled by each other's neiglibourhood, and
all strive to get out, but few can pass ; as if God did
nothing but threaten, and draw his juds-ments to the
mouth of the phial w\{\\ a full body, and there made
it stop itself.

The result of this consideration is, that as we fear
the divine judgments, so that we adore and love his
goodness, and let the golden chains of the divine
mercy tie us to a noble pjosecution of our duty and
the interest of religion. For he is the worst of men
whom kindness cannot soften, nor endearment oblige,
whom gratitude cannot tie faster than the bands of

* Jonah iv. 2. f Eiod. xxxiv. 6.

542 MIRACLES OF tuviiTE MEHCT. Serm. XXVIL

life and death. He is an ill natured sinner, if he
will not comply with the sweetnesses of heaven, and
be civil to his angel guardian, or ohservantof his pa-
tron God, who made him, and feeds him, and keeps
all his faculties, and takes care of him, and endures
his follies, and waits on him more tenderly than a
nurse, more diligently than a client, who hath greater
care of him than his father, and whose bowels yearn
over him with more compassion than a mother ; who
is bountiful beyond our need, and merciful beyond
our hopes, and makes capacities in us to receive
more. Fear is stronger than death, and love is more
prevalent than /ear, and kindness is the greatest en-
dearment of love ; and yet to an ingenuous person
gratitude is greater than all these, and obliges to a
solemn duty, when love fails, and year is dull and un-
active, and death itself is despised. But the man
"who is hardened against kindness, and whose duty is
not made alive with gratitude, must be used like a
slave, and driven like an ox, and enticed with goads
and whips ; but must never enter into the inheritance
of sons. Let us take heed; for mercy is like a rain-
bow, which God set in the clouds to remember man-
kind : it shines here as long as it is not hindered ;
but we must never look for it alter it is night, and it
shines not in the other world. If we refuse mercy
here, we shall have justice to eternity.

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